I've never met Ronni in person, but she has been a dear Twitter friend to me for the past couple of years. Twitter friendships (and online friendships in general) are funny like that -- you can really get to know and care about people you've never actually met and are unlikely to ever meet face-to-face, and they can become an important part of your day-to-day life.
Ronni was one of the first people who really interacted with me on a personal level on Twitter, and she was a great source of support during the horrible Kitty Plague of 2010 when I lost two beloved cats, including 17-year-old Amos. Ronni understood because she has her own beloved "old man" cat, Buddy, and she empathized with my loss.
Basically, Ronni is good people. She's sweet, kind, funny, generous, and passionate about her causes (animal welfare in particular). She lives life joyfully and enthusiastically, with a no-nonsense approach that is fun to watch. I'm proud to call her my friend.
Now for the serious bit:
Ronni was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She has already undergone a double mastectomy and will soon be starting a rigorous treatment plan consisting of 18 weeks of chemotherapy, with a break in the middle for a second surgery to remove the remainder of a tumor that was cut through during the mastectomy, followed by five weeks of daily radiation.
Ronni is fighting this thing with incredible grace, courage, and humor, and I have no doubt that she is going to kick its ass and have a full and lasting recovery.
I mean, come on. You've gotta love someone who can find the humor at a time like this:
Here's the thing, though:
The hospital where Ronni will be undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments is a three-hour round trip from her home. This means that when she begins the radiation round of her treatment, she will have to arrange lodging away from home for those five weeks because it would be neither fun nor even physically possible for her to drive three hours every day. She plans to stay at a hostel in the city, but that, of course, is going to cost money.
In an effort to ease both her financial burden and the physical and emotional stress that comes with it, (and with a little help from the lovely @Darediva, another dear Twitter friend), I am kicking off a fundraiser to help pay for Ronni's hostel stay so that she can focus all of her energy on kicking cancer's ass and getting better.
If you are willing and able to contribute, please click below and make a gift to Ronni of any amount you desire. You can also follow her on Twitter here to offer moral support. Let's all help Ronni give cancer the finger!
UPDATE: The target amount we are trying to raise is $1935, which is Ronni's estimate of what her lodging, groceries, and fuel will cost. We can totally raise $1935, y'all! Let's do this!
UPDATE NO. 2: Ronni informs me that we have already raised $464.70! That leaves us with $1470.30 to go. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far! Also, though the perfume raffle has not received any entries, look for additional upcoming raffles of some bigger-ticket items, including jewelry!
UPDATE NO. 3: As of January 28th, Ronni has received $662.08 in donations! That leaves $1272.92 to go. We can do this! Look for a big-ticket jewelry raffle coming later this week.
UPDATE NO. 4: (February 6, 2012) I have just received the bad news that Ronni is going to lose her prescription drug coverage at the end of this month, which means our initial goal of $1935 is not going to cut it any more. We don't have a revised estimate yet, but cancer treatment is expensive, so let's just say we need to raise A LOT MORE than $1935. Check out the ring raffle post at the top of the blog and keep an eye out for additional raffle items coming soon!
UPDATE NO. 5: (February 10, 2012) Ronni has now raised just over $900! She has also started chemotherapy and is tolerating it well aside from suffering extreme fatigue.
No comments:
Post a Comment