My name is Tom Tenney, and for more than 30 years I dedicated my life to creating art — comics, animation, music — pouring everything I had into projects for Marvel, DC, Image and even the legendary rock band AC/DC. Art wasn’t just my career… it was the way I provided for my family and connected to the world.

I’m living with advanced COPD, a progressive, debilitating illness with no cure that has taken away my ability to work and breathe normally. The past few months have become some of the hardest of mine and my family's life. My health has taken another step downward, and every day has become a little more of a fight. Advanced COPD is like trying to breathe through a pinhole, and lately that pinhole feels like it’s closing. Simple moments — standing up, walking across the room, even talking for too long — drain me in ways I can’t describe.

It's a constant reminder of just how fragile everything has become. Every day has become an uphill fight for air, strength, and stability. As my health declined, so did our finances — everything has finally collapsed.

This is not just about me.

My life partner is a diabetic whose health is fragile, and she cares for her autistic daughter, who depends on routine, stability, and a safe environment.

As hard as we tried to stay, we lost our home in Florida and moved north hoping to change things. But it's been an battle filled with obstacles. We've gone through and been going through sleeping on friend's couches, sleeping in the car and losing practically everything we owned. We are barely scraping by and about destitute.

Over the last month I've had multiple hospital stays and that has slowed me down from doing any art work or me being able to bring in any money. We can't even afford the essentials and medications being prescribed me or the oxygen the hospital wants me on daily. My family and I are surviving off of the bare minimum and that is about to end.

Trying to manage advanced COPD — needing medication, oxygen support, the ability to rest — while living in a car has been terrifying. I can't even walk 10 yards without the need of oxygen and medications. And we can't even afford daily food. All of it is dangerous for someone in my condition. It’s dangerous for any family, especially for us right now.

There’s no backup plan. It is truly life-or-death urgency now.

We're not asking for comfort.

We're asking for a chance to survive and overcome this.

Every dollar raised will go toward:

Life-sustaining medications and medical care

Basic survival needs — food and other essentials.

Keeping our family together and alive

I wish I didn’t have to write this. I wish pride or strength mattered more than survival. I wish there was an easy answer, and we cannot do this alone.

If you can donate — anything — to help us and keep air in my lungs.

If you cannot donate, please share this. Visibility could save my life.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for caring. And thank you for giving us a chance to survive this.

If you please share our GoFundMe link it would mean the world to me and my family.

Every share could reach someone who can, help with medications, essentials or simply get us through another day. Every act of kindness matters more than you know.

I’m scared. I’m exhausted. And I’m fighting as hard as I can.

Thank you Thomas A. Tenney