Jimmy  Darts

SB Mowing

Pattie Gonia

Little Miss Flint

Kalina Silverman / @makebigtalk on Instagram

Samuel Weidenhofer

Patriotic Kenny Foundation

Ben Saunders - Flawless Cleaning

The Dogist

Peter Bond

Amy Jandrisevits

Ask Uncle Jack

That Good News Girl

Tess Bohne

FowlMouthFarmer

Latonja and Taylor Richardson

Officer Richard Craig

Flavor Flav

John Wolfe

Khloe

<div>In June of 2024, my husband Nathan was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, and our lives were changed forever. AS is an inflammatory auto-immune disease that causes the immune system to attack the joints of the spine, pelvis, shoulders, cartilage between the breastbone &amp; ribs, and anywhere tendons &amp; ligaments are attached to bones. As the joints deteriorate, the connecting bones fuse together. It is life-long, progressive, and there is no cure. Every person is different and there are varying degrees of severity. Some people can live a fairly normal life with medication and lifestyle modifications, while others may become completely disabled. Other effects of AS can be blurred vision, sleep disorders, compression fractures, enlarged heart, and more.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Nathan's condition has reached the point where he can no longer physically do his job. We have been waiting and asking for a work-from-home position, but none have become available. He loved his career, so this has been a heart-breaking decision to leave his job. We are applying for disability, but from what I understand it can take a long time and several tries to be approved. Shortly before Christmas of 2024, I had a severe panic attack. Watching the love of my life suffer through pain every day for 8 months straight has taken a toll on my mental health. I am currently off work, in an intensive outpatient therapy program, scheduled to return in early February. On top of the stress of the past 8 months, I have had treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder for 25 years. It has not made any of this easier. Nathan has also started to deal with mental health challenges due to medical trauma from one of his five ER visits in 2024. There is a therapy program specifically for people dealing with chronic pain at The Cleveland Clinic. He desperately needs it.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>Our cat Ethel going viral several months ago has been an answered prayer. Although it is a lot for me to be a spousal caretaker, content creator, and work full-time, this was a crazy unique once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We will be making money from merchandise and profits from streaming W&amp;W's "OIIA OIIA (The Spinning Cat)" song. I also have an Ethel plushie in the works through MakeShip. I thought we could use "Ethel's income" for Nathan's medical bills and many mobility &amp; physical therapy aides not covered by insurance. But I have no idea how much money we will make, and for how long. I know they call it "15 minutes of fame" for a reason.

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<div>Our family and friends have helped however they can, but we are largely on our own financially. We've both reached our breaking points. We are physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. What I hope this GoFundMe will give us is time. Chronic pain changes a person. Nathan needs time to learn how to cope, to process the medical trauma, the anger from being dismissed by doctors for years about his pain, the heartache from losing his career, and the uncertainty of the future. He needs time to focus on stretching, physical therapy, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, and giving new medications a try.

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<div><br />

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<div>We cannot make it on my income alone. I can't rely on unpredictable income from Ethel's fame. And I can't wait to find out how much we will make from it because we have already been living on reduced income due to my short term disability. If by some miracle we make enough money from Ethel's merch, I will delete this GoFundMe. My plan is to give Nathan time, and apply for disability. In a few months, after completing the chronic pain IOP and re-assessing him, perhaps Nathan can find a part-time remote job. I don't know. AS is different for every person. We know from x-rays that Nathan already has permanent damage to his SI joints, located in between the hips and the base of the spine. If Nathan can no longer work, we will rely on SSI disability, if it is not taken away by the incoming administration in our country. I will also try to pick up over-time at work and selling anything around the house that may be of value.

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<div>I understand times are hard for many people, so if you are not able to donate, shares are also very appreciated. Nathan is the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful, and hard-working man I've known. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

</div>

<div><br />

</div>

<div>With Deep Gratitude,

</div>

<div>Donna and Nathan Irwin

</div>

Help Ethel's Dad with Ankylosing Spondylitis

OIIA-Qpsy Community

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

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OneTrust next-app audience

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NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Streaming widgets beta user

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3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

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Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

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checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

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fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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charityId

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route.pathname community

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Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Eligible for Profile Comment Badge

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

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AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

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Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

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openai

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New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

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Is Recurring Friendly

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NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

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Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

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pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

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challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

OIIA-Qpsy Community

OIIA-Qpsy Community

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Help Ethel's Dad with Ankylosing Spondylitis

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