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Hey Songwriter Fam,
Karen E Reynolds - Our mentor, biggest supporter, loudest cheerleader, and one who dedicated 20+ years of her life to promoting other songwriters (even though she's an amazing one herself) - had bilateral pulmonary emboli this past week and had to be admitted to critical care. And, yes, this is the same issue she had a few years ago that her doctor told her she probably wouldn't survive another. You'll be glad to know Karen is at home now and stable. We all know that Karen is a fighter - having already survived cancer.
I still thought it was a good time to check in on her and have an honest conversation about how things are going, and I want to talk to you about some of the things I found out. After all, she has always considered the community of songwriters as family. And right now, it's my belief that life has thrown too much at Karen recently for us to expect her to handle it on her own and it's time for family to step in to help. Now, the headline of this gofundme is for medical bills. Currently, these include the treatment for the blood clots in her lungs (there are multiple clots), the super expensive blood thinners to keep it from happening again, and plenty of other high dollar details; but during this they also discovered that she will have to undergo open heart surgery to replace two of her heart valves. These bills will be massive, but even that is just part of the story. Covid closed all performance avenues for the past year and all but wiped out her consultation business she spent years building...and now after months of restructuring with the facilitation of a business loan - the loan now being another stress - it's unclear when in the near future she will be able to return to a significant work schedule again because of these health issues. It's a lot, y'all. The goal currently is $10,000 dollars, but in all honesty the hole is going to be much deeper than that amount by the end of this journey.
So because of all of the above, I started this gofundme (and I want to assure you, here, that Karen is the sole beneficiary of every penny donated). She has supported us for years. Her 20+ years of dedication to an indie-only radio show. Her songwriter education programs for the Frank Brown Festival. Her charity work and numerous song donations to non-profit organizations. Even the years of her running a local weekly open mic night for her songwriter family - which is actually where I met her. I think in these rare cases of someone with such an amazing spirit, it's easy to forget that sometimes it's our turn to do the taking care of.
Thank you so much, everyone, for your support. I want to leave you with a line from one of Karen's songs that will make you all go...yep, that's the Karen I know...even if this time the fight is all of ours, too (:
"I may stumble, I may fall, but I will rise, I will stand tall on higher ground.
I will not be beaten, no, you'll never, ever keep this good girl down."
Karen E Reynolds
PO Box 18157
Knoxville, TN 37928
Karen E Reynolds - Our mentor, biggest supporter, loudest cheerleader, and one who dedicated 20+ years of her life to promoting other songwriters (even though she's an amazing one herself) - had bilateral pulmonary emboli this past week and had to be admitted to critical care. And, yes, this is the same issue she had a few years ago that her doctor told her she probably wouldn't survive another. You'll be glad to know Karen is at home now and stable. We all know that Karen is a fighter - having already survived cancer.
I still thought it was a good time to check in on her and have an honest conversation about how things are going, and I want to talk to you about some of the things I found out. After all, she has always considered the community of songwriters as family. And right now, it's my belief that life has thrown too much at Karen recently for us to expect her to handle it on her own and it's time for family to step in to help. Now, the headline of this gofundme is for medical bills. Currently, these include the treatment for the blood clots in her lungs (there are multiple clots), the super expensive blood thinners to keep it from happening again, and plenty of other high dollar details; but during this they also discovered that she will have to undergo open heart surgery to replace two of her heart valves. These bills will be massive, but even that is just part of the story. Covid closed all performance avenues for the past year and all but wiped out her consultation business she spent years building...and now after months of restructuring with the facilitation of a business loan - the loan now being another stress - it's unclear when in the near future she will be able to return to a significant work schedule again because of these health issues. It's a lot, y'all. The goal currently is $10,000 dollars, but in all honesty the hole is going to be much deeper than that amount by the end of this journey.
So because of all of the above, I started this gofundme (and I want to assure you, here, that Karen is the sole beneficiary of every penny donated). She has supported us for years. Her 20+ years of dedication to an indie-only radio show. Her songwriter education programs for the Frank Brown Festival. Her charity work and numerous song donations to non-profit organizations. Even the years of her running a local weekly open mic night for her songwriter family - which is actually where I met her. I think in these rare cases of someone with such an amazing spirit, it's easy to forget that sometimes it's our turn to do the taking care of.
Thank you so much, everyone, for your support. I want to leave you with a line from one of Karen's songs that will make you all go...yep, that's the Karen I know...even if this time the fight is all of ours, too (:
"I may stumble, I may fall, but I will rise, I will stand tall on higher ground.
I will not be beaten, no, you'll never, ever keep this good girl down."
Karen E Reynolds
PO Box 18157
Knoxville, TN 37928
Organizer and beneficiary
Karen Reynolds
Beneficiary