Save Lori's House

Last fall I was diagnosed with a rare form of slow-developing ALS, as the explanation for my "bad leg" that lands me in a wheelchair or on crutches at times. A few months later I was "undiagnosed". Freelance writer Lori Steele was diagnosed right around the same time. Her ALS has progressed rapidly. She and her 7 year old son may lose their house, which has just gone into foreclosure. Her blogging friends are trying to save Lori and her family from an enormous pile of medical bills:

http://diaryofamother.blogs.com/mamas_musings/2008/09/save-loris-hous.html

Could have been me... could have been you... Let's try to spread the word and help Lori out with some donations and bigger media coverage.

It's not right - and I don't mean just that she is battling with ALS - It's not right that this is what happens to a hardworking and successful single mom, because she doesn't have insurance and our medical system sucks. Medical crisis? THERE IS NO SAFETY NET. Instead, it is right when you're the most down and in need of help that rich people; doctors, bankers, etc. will kick you when you're down and pull your hard-won middle class life to pieces, kick your family out into the street, and leave them crushed by debt.

Interesting that Lori copy-edited Michael Moore's book. Where is he to help her in this crisis? Hey Michael Moore could you at least throw a little publicity Lori's way ?

Lori wrote this about the aftermath of watching "Bambi" with her son, just this summer:

He had tried to shield me from the sadness of knowing that Bambi's mother was dead. And now it was my turn.

"Will you look after me when I'm a grown-up?"

On the morning after his fourth birthday, Jack waits for an answer. There's so much that can happen in this beautiful, crazy, too-mortal planet, and I know truth and its consequences are too much for a child. For my child. For this moment. He will learn the whole truth in time; he will learn that life is as capricious as it is constant. For now I want him to return safely to Neverland.

I tell him I'll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don't let him down, not on this.

Comments

[Christine Hohlbaum]

Thank you so much for blogging about Lori and for spreading the word. I am so moved by her story. She deserves the world, as does every hard-working parent and their children. Blessings upon you, Christine

[Lea]

Just found this. I know what it's like to lose shelter. I Twittered and sent money.