Support Salem (Shawn) Sloane in Health Crisis!

Salem (Shawn) Sloane is a dear friend and talented illustrator, designer, and creator of Hauntwares. Early this year, he was diagnosed with cancer (lymphoma) and has been undergoing an intense regimen of chemotherapy, during which time he has been unable to work.

At the worst possible time, his lease ends in August. While he has the funds to pay for housing through the end of his lease, his apartment rental agency Atmark is raising his rent by more than $1000 per month and is prepared to evict him, knowing he’s going through cancer treatment. It’s an incredibly cruel situation thanks to the current housing crisis.

He is currently searching for a new apartment in the Metro Boston area to be within public transportation reach of his team of cancer doctors.

We are setting up this GoFundMe to help support Salem during this health and housing crisis.

For his health and safety, his cancer team determined he needs a solo living arrangement. The chemo for this kind of cancer (lymphoma) is incredibly harsh, because a really aggressive regimen is what makes it so treatable. If he can make it through chemo, remission is very likely. But getting a life-threatening infection while recovering due to homelessness or unsanitary group living situations during an ongoing pandemic is almost guaranteed, and being further immunocompromised due to diabetes, possibly fatal.

Salem has been looking at rents throughout the Boston area and the minimum for studios/1br averages $1,300 - so 12 months of rent (to fully account for the recovery period and let his immune system heal) is around $16,000, or around $20,000 for 15 months. And while he’s been working with several housing advocacy groups, there just aren’t enough local resources available to help in time.

While he is uncomfortable asking for help and using the GoFundMe model, Salem really needs help from his people during this tough time to relieve some of the stress and burden so he can focus on his recovery and rebuilding his life post-cancer. Please do what you can to help our friend recover safely.