Hello, I am Sean Philips, or you might better know me by my horribly ironic burn name, Guru. I have been an active member of the Texas Burn community for the last decade and throughout those many years, Chris Murphy (aka Druid) has been my friend, volunteer colleague, and just an all-around stand-up member of this community who constantly has gone above and beyond to support friends and strangers alike.

Since 2014, when he first began burning, he has volunteered with Rangers, Guardians, Site Ops, Medical, Conclave, Fire, Greeters, and Gate and has taken on leadership roles in many of those. Before any of this, Druid served his country as a scuba diver and combat medic for the Army. Add to those an ever-growing list of helping people move and with various other tasks and needs, and you can quickly see how much this man gives of himself.

Now, Druid has come into some hard times and I think it is time for his community to give back a bit to support him. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with diverticulosis, and he has been doing his best to manage that with dietary and lifestyle changes. Recently, he had a nasal surgery that ended with complications, causing him to have to be hospitalized for several days at the end of June. That concluded with him being told he could not lift more than five pounds.

This last week, Druid went through a horrible trauma that none of us should have to suffer, where he watched as a good friend of his died in front of him. He tried to render care, but the friend passed away nonetheless. Despite his own grief and the physical limitations previously mentioned, Druid has taken the role of primary caregiver for his late friend's widow. He has made sure she has gotten the social support she needed as well as coordinated help getting her moved, since her husband passed right in the middle of their move with a non-sympathetic apartment complex enforcing a strict deadline, despite the circumstances.

Now, with no time to grieve or ground himself, Druid faces another surgery, this time to deal with the diverticulosis. This is a fairly major surgery, where they will be removing his entire sigmoid colon and he will be hospitalized for up to ten days, more if there are complications. When he gets out, he is in for a rough healing and will need help with meals and support, but mainly he will need help covering his bills that are stacking up as he is unable to work.

*We will also be setting up a meal train once the surgery dates are set.