Support HG Wyndell's Health Journey
Donation protected
Hello Friends, Beloveds, Acquaintances, and Strangers,
I am here writing on behalf of someone very important in my world, HG Wyndell. I am hoping that together we will be able to keep them actively involved in their roles as an Artist, Activist, Mentor, and Educator. We can do that by assisting in paying off healthcare related debt from two major surgeries in as many years. The first one had pre-approved insurance coverage that was denied payment in the end, despite detailed research, triple checking, and an approval letter. The second is simply adding to the pressure.
- Goal #1: $5,000 - This catches up payments and secures healthcare for the rest of the year.
- Goal #2: $10,000 - This will complete payments on one surgery, and reduce the other.
- Goal #3: $14,000 - This will clear current medical debt. (Removing the looming sensation caused by knowing we've reached the limits of our safety nets can improve physical and mental health in extraordinary ways. It is my hope that we can get them here, to Goal #3.)
Who Are They?
Meet HG Wyndell, aka Hanna Christiansen...
Artist, Activist, Peer Mentor, Educator, & Lifelong Student. With a degree in technical theater, they pursued a career in that field at places like ACen and the Florida Grand Opera until their body simply wouldn’t tolerate the hours and strain anymore. Meanwhile, they were also building the business they then shifted fully into as a self employed artist, making wearable art in hand dyed bamboo, cotton, and silks. While that maintained an outlet for some of their creativity, they also remained active in advocating for both their own communities (LGBTQIA2S+, Disability, & Pagan) and for centering BIPOC people and communities in pursuit of Rights, Recognition, Reparations, and Equability. Through ongoing research and learning, they continue to take part at the growth edges of cultural healing and community building practices.
Along the way, they were also establishing their own spiritual home and interconnected communities. In 2019, HG was initiated into the Northern Tradition - a pagan spiritual tradition rooted in northern European practices. They have become a driving force collaborating within the Northern Trad Guild to maintain and share its teachings. As they do this, they continue to seek out others to collaborate with in community, learning, ritual, and ceremony. Woven throughout all of these endeavors is the time they’ve spent as an educator. Working at the intersection of Spirituality, Art, Activism, Intentional Relating, and Sexuality, they have offered their insight and experience through classes, workshops, events, seminars, keynote speeches, sermons, and peer mentoring.
Essentially, they bring thoughtfulness, awareness, consideration, and interdisciplinary thinking into everything they touch. I find their renaissance approach to community and relationality a gift, one I would ask you to help me preserve by donating to and circulating this mutual aid request. (Even if you cannot support directly, please find the access to one of their resource lists in the link below Gratitude. I've included it to both be a community resource and give insight about their active influences.)
Details of Why...
Our primary concern is the pressure of medical debt forcing them to resign positions, step back from mentoring, teaching, and community work. The need to establish a more traditional income to pay for these medical expenses is weighing heavily on them, despite the wealth of experience showing that their body is not up for that kind of regulated schedule, physical demand, and illness exposure. When I asked them what this help would mean to them, they shared the following:
"I won't be a burden on my family. I could make meaningful contributions to my own support and medical care. ...I do a lot of work that is not compensated or is under-compensated. It would remove a huge looming bugaboo." ~ HG
The incredibly distressing statement for me was the estimation that followed:
"If I have to stop teaching and get a job at [someplace like] Costco, I will go from hoping to do this work for the next 40 years, to hoping to live for the next 20." ~ HG
Deeper Explanations...
Medical Situation:
Through a genetic roll of the dice, HG has had to manage a lifetime of chronic and acute struggles with their health stemming from a compromised immune system. With diagnosis of Fibromyalgia, Psoriatic Arthritis, EDS Hypermobility, and a recent confirmation of Endometriosis, they manage Chronic Pain and its secondary issues — such as the accompanying mental health adventures with Anxiety and Depression.
In addition to the constant management practices for all of the above (such as careful tracking of dietary restrictions, herbal supports, prescriptions, and mindfulness about health balances and exposure), there have also been larger actions needed of late. This is where the medical billing issues have arisen.
Costs:
1st Surgery: Top Surgery/Double Mastectomy - August 2023
- Originally $12,000+ and Currently at approx. $11,000
When the first surgery came up, it was a move to improve quality of life on several fronts. Their comfort in their own body at the forefront, and pain management right behind that. To get in with a surgeon both they and their medical team felt comfortable with, they had only a few choices. The went with the gender affirmation clinic through UofM. The surgeon and their team were amazing. The billing debacle that lasted more than a year after (just to get costs sorted) was horrible.
Condensed Timeline:
+ UofM originally quoted $24,000, which was out of reach.
+ The surgeon advocated (dropping their fee and getting many others reduced) to get an out of pocket quote of $10,000. This was under consideration.
+ Then the billing team at UofM got an unexpected approval from HG's insurance company.
- Many hours were spent re-checking this, getting exacting billing codes, and getting a written letter of approved coverage.
- The cost was supposed to be down to meeting the deductible and out of pocket max for the year, which would have been $2,035 as of the date of surgery.
- They were informed later (4 months post-surgery) that approved Coverage is not the same as approved Payment.
- The lie of insurance coverage negated their right to informed consent.
2nd Surgery: Full Hysterectomy & Endometriosis Management
- Meeting Deductible & Out of Pocket Max at approx. $3,300
The second surgery was a matter of quality of life, having gone above and beyond reasonable action to manage the issues in other ways. In March of 2025 HG had a full hysterectomy, during which Endometriosis was confirmed and the current visible cellular growths were also removed or remediated.
What is at stake:
The payment plans being requested are impossible, and even the re-negotiations are threatening to pull them from all of the amazing work they do and into a standard clerical or retail job — which is likely to unbalance their health in disastrous ways. While it may seem drastic to state it that boldly, here are some reference points that I have watched play out in the 17+ years I have known them.
Condensed Timeline:
+ Liver imbalances from inflammation (at life threatening levels), pulled them from their first career in theater. Their doctors told them they had to make drastic changes.
+ Later, they worked seasonally for several years at a tax office. The pattern this followed:
- Work for 4 months
- Recover for 6 months (including much bed-rest)
- 2 months of moderate functionality, followed by starting the cycle again.
+ Impacts of picking up common illnesses like cold, flu, etc.
- 1-2 days discomfort for others = 2-5 days down (incapacitated) for HG
- 1-4 days sick at home for others = at least 2 weeks down and 1-2 weeks lingering symptoms for HG
- 1 week down (incapacitated) for others = 3-4 weeks down for HG with lingering symptoms for months to follow
Examples
+ Occurrence of Pneumonia from fall 2010 into 2012
- Lasted more than 18 months
- Took many increasingly potent rounds of antibiotics to get rid of
+ Covid in 2023
- HG picked up Covid at a teaching event (even while the event called for daily testing, some folks didn't test positive until several days in, resulting in nearby participants being exposed)
- Other friends from event were back to work 14 days later
- HG was down and quarantined/tested positive for over a month (attempting to not spread it to others in the house and become reinfected before surgery), and had lingering issues for months after.
Given these experiences, as well as a lifetime of acute and chronic health challenges, we know that their body cannot sustain the scheduling demands and exposure to illness that a standard job working for others requires.
My Why in Supporting Them:
I would much rather see them continue to bring their skills and brilliance to community, as I believe that is a benefit worth investing in. I have personally benefited in myriad ways. For more than 17 years, I have had the opportunity to be in close orbit with them. As a friend and beloved, I have watched them cultivate personal practices to support their continual pursuit of creating wonderful, useful things to share with this world — without erasing or dismissing difficulty or joy. Their self care practices have profoundly influenced my own capacity to work with my body, and watching them manage their own chronic illnesses shaped a very different understanding for me of what is possible. They also have one of the most beautiful ongoing decolonization study and implementation practices I have ever seen. Carrying this into daily living, language curation, and intentional relating - they bring awareness and consideration into all of their interactions to the best of their ability. With eminent practicality, ingenuity, and persistence, they manage a balance which allows them to accomplish more with fewer personal resources than most of us. From this, they have also developed an entire set of Self Care classes and tools, each focusing on building personal self care practices within different life circumstances.
Gratitude
Thank you for taking a look at this mutual aid request, and if you've made it this far in the write-up, double thanks! I appreciate you considering HG's story, as well as any sharing and contributions you have to offer. In my opinion, helping with this drive is not just a direct line to relief for them, it's also bringing their diligent participation in community building and mutual aid full circle - in a way that can also benefit many individuals and communities. I know we have yet to see the best of what they may bring to the world, and everything so far has been pretty great already. Your time, energy, donations, sharing, and attention are greatly appreciated.
(Note: you can donate directly to this GoFundMe, or tap in through their Patreon. All financially supportive actions with help bring ease and fuel them staying on the path they have chosen.)
Resource List:
Where you'll find links to folks whose work in this world has fueled HG (and so many of us), and little about why each person has been added.
In keeping with their practices around tracking, referencing, and sharing the work of individuals and collectives who have informed, guided, influenced, and shaped their study and practices (both directly and indirectly), I have asked them to help me assemble a list of their influences to share. I am seeing this both as a way for you all to get a deeper look at the roots of their influences, and as a way to offer a little something in return for anyone who makes their way here. The above link is to a downloadable PDF, which they are planning to continue adding to over time. Please feel free to check their website in the future to see what gets added.
I have gotten so many wonderful and potent recommendations from them, and wanted to share some of that with all of you, as well!
Blessings & Appreciation,
Roni Jean
How do I know HG:
17 years as a Friend, Beloved, and Chosen Family
Who am I:
I am primarily a personal consultant, working with individuals to bridge their day-to-day habits and patterns of thoughts to the life they are called to - in ways that honor the whole of who they are personally, professionally, and philosophically. I also build tools to support us as we aim to relate more intentionally, and work with others who create systems which support self knowledge, cultural awareness, healthy communities, conflict resolution, and cultural calibrations.
Roni Jean Andrews-Neal
Founder of Harnessing Intent
Building Tools for Relating
Collaborator with Mountain Woman Medicine
Resident & Cohort of Planet JWOW
Cultural Calibrations rooted in Joy Wisdom Opportunity & Wonder
Organizer
Roni Neal
Organizer
Holt, MI