A Special Boater with Special Needs

It is often said that boaters are considered in a special community and help their fellow boaters in need. In my e-mail box today is the following information that surely falls into that "In Need" situation. This is a Special Lady to be sure and deserves Special Attention in her time of need. The e-mail copied below says the whole story and I am sure it will touch you much like it moved me. . . .

Island woman receives transplant after sister donates bone marrow

Friends, family raising funds to help with costs

Washington Island, Wis., June 10, 2010 – Valerie Fons knows a thing or two about family bonds. When she needed a bone marrow transplant, her sister Lynette donated her own marrow to save Fons’ life in May. Volunteers are participating in a fundraising campaign to offset the expenses and will be seeking donations during the Washington Island Canoe and Kayak Event June 18-20.

Fons, 59, first noticed signs of illness last summer. An avid kayaker, she was participating in a race when a friend noticed she was not paddling as fast as usual. In November, her husband, Joe Ervin, took her to the emergency room. An oncologist in the ER reviewed her blood work and discovered an E. coli infection. Just two days later, she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and began rigorous chemotherapy treatments the following day. Had the infection and disease gone undiagnosed, she would have died in two days.

Fons has always believed in giving back to her community. An ordained elder and pastor in the United Methodist Church, she and Ervin have six adopted children ranging in age from 7 to 15. They also founded the nonprofit Lake Adventures Uniting Nature and Children with Hospitality (L.A.U.N.C.H.), which offers kayak tours for inner city children and community programs, including hot breakfasts at Washington Island School.

A bone marrow transplant costs more than $300,000. Even with health insurance, Fons faces significant medical expenses. She will need vital medications and follow-up visits to ensure her body accepts the new bone marrow.

Fons and her three daughters have temporarily relocated more than 2,000 miles from their home in Wisconsin to Seattle, where the transplant took place. She must remain in this area for at least 100 days post-transplant to be near the transplant center during recovery. For the rest of her life, she will have to travel to Seattle regularly for follow-up visits. Irvin is staying in Wisconsin to care for the couple’s three sons while she goes through the recovery process.

To overcome these financial challenges, Fons turned to the National Foundation for Transplants (NFT) for assistance. NFT is a nonprofit organization that helps transplant patients raise funds to pay for medical expenses.

“Valerie is truly an inspiration to us all, and we’re honored to be working with her,” said Carrie Berry, NFT fundraising consultant. “Despite all her challenges, she has unbreakable spirit and determination. She has a wonderfully supportive community, and NFT is dedicated to helping the Fons family overcome these financial obstacles.”

Fons once paddled 21,000 miles from the Arctic Ocean to Cape Horn and has set a Guinness record for paddling the 2,348-length of the Mississippi River. In 2009, she established the Washington Island Canoe and Kayak Event (WICKE), which crosses Death’s Door from Washington Island to Northport on the Door County mainland. She is so dedicated to this sport that she kept her kayak paddle in the hospital bed so she had a constant reminder of the outdoors she loves so much.

This year’s WICKE will take place Friday, June 18 through Sunday, June 20, drawing kayakers from several states for a symposium and race. The race takes place Saturday, June 19 at 9:30 a.m. For more information about the event, please contact Carol Meyer at 920-847-2546 or carol@wisferry.com.

Volunteers from Fons’ fundraising campaign will set up a table at the event to help raise funds for her transplant expenses. Community members are encouraged to visit the table to learn more about how they can help.

To make donations in honor of Fons, please visit www.transplants.org and click on “patients we help” to search for her. If you prefer to mail your contribution, please send your gift to the NFT Wisconsin Bone Marrow Fund, 5350 Poplar Avenue, Suite 430, Memphis, TN 38119. Be sure to write “in honor of Valerie Fons” in the subject line.

About NFT

NFT is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Memphis, Tenn. that has been helping transplant patients overcome financial obstacles since 1983. NFT provides fundraising expertise and advocacy to transplant patients by organizing fundraising campaigns in the patients’ own communities. In the past 27 years, NFT’s fundraising campaigns have generated more than $56 million to assist patients.

NFT currently assists more than 1,000 transplant candidates and recipients nationwide. For more information about NFT, please call 800-489-3863 or visit www.transplants.org.

I'm Back and broke like everybody else these days

The Lady Robin and I were gone on the road for twenty days and saw and did a lot of things we will be writing about in up coming issues. We experienced Black Bike Week in Myrtle Beach, SC first hand and of course stood out like a sore thumb. Our biggest shock however was the amount of taxes on items we picked up in Canada. Thinking that we might be in the same boat soon here in the States, we thought you might find this e-mail I received today, interesting and understandable . . .

   John G. Is 63 years old and owns a small business. He's a life-long Republican and sees his dream of retiring next year has all but evaporated. With the stock market crashing and new taxes coming his way, John assumes now that he will work to his dying day.

John has a granddaughter. Ashley is a recent college grad. She drives a flashy hybrid car, wears all the latest fashions, and loves to go out to nightclubs and restaurants. Ashley campaigned hard for Barack Obama. After the election she made sure her grandfather (and all other Republican family members) received a big I told-you-so earful on how the world is going to be a much better place now that her party is taking over.

Having lost both roommates, Ashley recently ran short of cash and cannot pay the rent (again) on her 3 bedroom townhouse. Like she has done many times in the past, she e-mailed her grandfather asking for some financial help.

Here is his reply:

Sweetheart,  

I received your request for assistance. Ashley, you know I love you dearly and I 'm sympathetic to your financial plight. Unfortunately, times have changed. With the election of President Obama, your grandmother and I have had to set forth a bold new economic plan of our own..."The Ashley Economic Empowerment Plan." Let me explain.

Your grandmother and I are life-long, wage-earning tax payers. We have lived a comfortable life, as you know, but we have never had the fancier things like European vacations, luxury cars, etc.. We have worked hard and were looking forward to retiring soon. But the plan has changed. Your president is raising our personal and business taxes significantly. He says it is so he can give our hard earned money to other people. Do you know what this means, Ashley? It means less for us, and we must cut back on many business and personal expenses.

You know the wonderful receptionist who worked in my office for more than 23 years? The one who always gave you candy when you came over to visit? I had to let her go last week. I can't afford to pay her salary and all of the government mandated taxes that go with having employees. Your grandmother will now work 4 days a week to answer phones, take orders and handle the books. We will be closed on Fridays and will lose even more income to the Wal-Mart.

I'm also very sorry to report that your cousin Frank will no longer be working summers in the warehouse. I called him at school this morning. He already knows about it and he's upset because he will have to give up skydiving and his yearly trip to Greenland to survey the polar bears.

That's just the business side of things. Some personal economic effects of Obama's new taxation policies include none other than you You know very well that over the years your grandmother and I have given you thousands of dollars in cash, tuition assistance, food, housing, clothing, gifts, etc., etc. But by your vote, you have chosen to help others -- not at your expense -- but at our expense.

If you need money now sweetheart, I recommend you call 202-456-1111. That is the direct phone number for the White House. You can also contact the White House here:http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/ .

You yourself told me how foolish it is to vote Republican. You said Mr Obama is going to be the People's President, and is going to help every American live a better life. Based on everything you've told me, along with all the promises we heard during the campaign, I'm sure Mr. Obama will be happy to transfer some stimulus money into your bank account. Have him call me for the account number which I memorized years ago.

Perhaps you can now understand what I've been saying all my life: those who vote for a president should consider the impact on the nation as a whole, and not be just concerned with what they can get for themselves. What Obama supporters don't seem to realize is all of the money he is redistributing to illegal aliens and non-taxpaying Americans (the so-called "less fortunate") comes from tax-paying families.

Remember how you told me, "Only the richest of the rich will be affected"? Well guess what, honey? Because we own a business, your grandmother and I are now considered to be the richest of the rich. On paper, it might look that way, but in the real world, we are far from it. As you said while campaigning for Obama, some people will have to carry more of the burden so all of America can prosper. You understand what that means, right? It means that raising taxes on productive people results in them having less money; less money for everything, including granddaughters.

I'm sorry, Ashley, but the well has run dry. The free lunches are over. I have no money to give you now. So, congratulations on your choice for "change." For future reference, I encourage you to try and add up the total value of the gifts and cash you have received from us, just since you went off to college, and compare it to what you expect to get from Mr. Obama over the next 4 (or 8) years. I have not kept track of it, Ashley. It has all truly been the gift of our hearts.

Remember, we love you dearly, but from now on you'll need to call the number mentioned above. Your "Savior" has the money we would have given to you. Just try and get it from him.

Good luck, sweetheart.

Love,

Grandpa