My dad is a science teacher at a public middle school. A month after turning 50, he suddenly learned he has stage 4 colon cancer that's metastasized to his liver and lungs. When I visited him in the hospital, he kept repeating the words "I'm scared. I don't want to die." I turned my head to the wall and cried.
My mom, an LVN, has been driving to his place often in order to care for him and empty his ileostomy bag, which he's still too scared to even look at. Not being able to go to the bathroom normally, and dealing with accidents where the bag of his own waste bursts and leaks onto him makes him feel humiliated and is causing him to become extremely depressed.
We're thankful that my mother a nurse, but she makes much less than he does as a teacher, and has been draining her retirement for his treatment. She's also had to take ubers lately to go see him because she can't drive at night, as she has a serious vision disability due to a genetic condition that eventually results in blindness.
Most of the money received is from my mom, other family members, and former students of my father. But what's maybe even more important than the amount received, is the number of people donating. I can see how hopeful and excited it makes my dad to see just 5 donations in a day from people he doesn't know.
When multiple strangers donate even just $5 each in a day, I can tell that it makes him even more excited than it does to see that same amount donated by one person in a day. (which is still very exciting!! One person who reblogged this donated $100, which was so generous that my parents were scratching their heads trying to figure out who they knew with the name Adrian. Thank you so much to that very kind person who doesn't even follow me 😭🤍🩷)
The other day, I asked mutuals to donate, and 5 people sent $5-$25, bringing the gfm up ~$80. My mom called my dad to let him know, "all those donations came from her freaks on tumblr!!" He thanked me over and over and was amazed when I told him this post was shared 500 times. He said, that's so many people! It really brightened his day so much.
I would appreciate it if you could take the time to open his page, even if you can only donate $1. For you, it may be just a small dent in our goal that won't make a difference. But to him, it shows that there's one more human out there who sees him, who's thinking about him, who knows his name, knows what he's going through, and wishes for him to recover. Even a dollar means the world to us!!!
Please, think about saving this post and donating $1, $5, or $10 this week. Share it online, with people you know irl, with anyone who could help. If you can't spare anything now, I'd appreciate if you could take the time to just pray for him and his recovery. You can send an ask to let me know if you'd like, as prayers are something that comfort my dad a great deal.
Thank you everyone who's supported us so far, I love you all dearly and I'm so incredibly grateful for your help.
$3,501/$12,000
^ There's also a wishlist if any of you would like to help through this instead
Nader has spent the last eighteen years of his life in the Gaza strip. He has witnesses war after war, famine, fear, and death. His little cousin is now a toddler and has known nothing but terror herself.
If you'd like to help my friend Nader and his family afford food, medical, and housing costs please consider contributing to Nader's fundraiser, or reblogging! Thank you so much.
For nearly three years, a devastating war has ravaged the Gaza Strip, leaving nothing untouched. We have been starved, besieged, displaced, our homes destroyed, and we have suffered immensely. We have lost so many of our loved ones, and this war continues unabated. We are desperately trying to survive by collecting donations, as they are the only thing that can keep us alive. My father's and brother's workplaces have been destroyed, and my father is battling cancer. Please don't hesitate to donate. Your donations are our only hope. Please donate now.
okay so I have one mutual who follows over 3000 blogs and another who follows under 100. to each their own, tumblr is what you make it, etc. but I'm curious what the consensus is...
Maid cleaning a massive chateau surely belonging to the richest people you’ve ever seen, and as she’s walking from room to room you notice that every single portrait is of her
help a trans woman escape her transphobic home country by watching her build lego!!!
with my home country passing more and more transphobic legislation every day, it's becoming clear to everybody who knows me that i desperately need to relocate to live with my wife as soon as possible. unfortunately, this means spending thousands of dollars in lawyers, plane tickets, application fees etc -- but we have a solution.
from April 6th to April 8th, i'm going to be building a huge (4500 piece!!!) LEGO castle -- among other sets -- on Twitch with my bestest friends in the world. we're starting with the Lion Knights' Castle, but the more donations we get, the more sets we're going to build. i have an untouched stack of LEGO from around a decade of birthdays (something about my personality screams "buy me LEGO") so we could literally take this for thousands upon thousands of bricks.
mark it in your calendar, throw this post in your queue:
APRIL 6TH through APRIL 8TH!
make sure you follow in advance so you don't miss us going live 🥰
Don't donate to World Central Kitchen because even after their members were murdered by Israel, the founder Jose Andreas still collaborated with Israel and recently they served displaced Israeli settlers bombed by Iran and Hezbollah
Frankly this is a really gross thing to say, do you hear yourself? Don't donate to this relief charity who continue to bravely serve in an area where some of their people were killed, and who help people displaced by war regardless of where they come from?
Israeli civilians are civilians. This is unpersoning and it's evil.
Here's what the World Central Kitchen has to say about the people it lost in Gaza:
"Today we pause to remember seven members of the World Central Kitchen family killed in Gaza on April 1, 2024: Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Zomi Frankcom, Jim Henderson, James Kirby, and Damian Soból.
They were more than colleagues. They were humanitarians, teammates, and friends who believed deeply in the power of a meal to bring comfort, dignity, and hope in the hardest moments.
Two years later, their absence is still deeply felt.
“We will never forget the seven members of our WCK family who were killed two years ago. They were the best of humanity, feeding people they didn’t know,” said WCK Founder José Andrés. “There was and never will be any excuse for the attacks on their convoy. We demand truth and justice for them, and for all the humanitarian workers who have been killed in Gaza. We mourn the loss of all lives in this war. Civilians must never be a target of any war.”
Grief does not follow a schedule. Some days it sits quietly in the background. Other days, like this one, it feels close and undeniable. For the WCK community around the world, today is a moment to reflect, to remember, and to honor who they were and what they stood for.
On that day, Israeli military airstrikes hit a clearly marked WCK convoy whose movements had been coordinated in advance. Seven lives were lost in an instant. The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged responsibility for the strike and admitted to grave errors. But full accountability remains incomplete. We continue to call for everyone responsible to be held to account. What happened to our colleagues must never happen again. The protection of humanitarian workers everywhere depends on it.
Even in the face of this loss, their legacy shapes everything we do.
It lives on in the meals our teams serve each day in Gaza and in communities around the world facing crisis. It lives on in the care our teams bring to every kitchen, every delivery, every interaction. And it lives on in the way we show up for one another, with compassion and a shared sense of purpose.
Our mission has always been simple: to feed people in times of crisis.
We carry Saifeddin, John, Jacob, Zomi, Jim, James, and Damian with us in our work, in our values, and in our commitment to one another and to the people we serve.
We will keep cooking. We will keep showing up. And we will honor our colleagues by doing the work they believed in."
Today we pause to remember seven members of the World Central Kitchen family killed in Gaza on April 1, 2024: Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha,
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