Also, his old dog, sideways in the corner of his blog, reminds me of DogBreath. Henley's dog is deficient in spots, but has the requisite vaguely concerned look, as if whoever it's looking at can't reliably be trusted to take care of themselves.
That Henley has apparently raised $200 *above* his target in 2 hours says it all about the guy. I'm sure a little more won't go amiss though, in the whacky world of American health care.
Thank you. I was just coming over to link to that.
Something about the Internet that has really made my life better is the opportunity for this sort of fundraising. Organized charity is one thing, but it always sort of feels like throwing money down a well. Being able to do something helpful for a person who I feel some connection to (here, because I've been reading his stuff for ten years or so) is just pure pleasure.
I'm sure a little more won't go amiss though
Absolutely. He's asked for the bare minimum, not counting travel and lodging costs, so as much as people can raise will go to good use.
To reinforce 5, and quote from the description:
But the wheels of the healthcare system grind slowly, and I need to have the initial consultations before my insurance gets changed. The basic consultation fee is $700 each. I will likely need two: with a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist. Any tests they do in the office will be extra. What I'd like the funding effort to do is cover at least the basic consultation fees, so I've set the goal at $1,400. My family will stand the travel and lodging and are prepared to cover any additional test fees.
So yeah, more surely will help.
OK I gave a bit. Honestly, $100 for a blog post on the topic of my choice by a prominent blogger like Jim Henley is too good a deal, I don't feel like that was charitable of me at all.
I hope the treatment comes through successfully.
I owe U of C for emergency medical care they provided for me almost 30 years ago. This is probably all they will ever get from me.
Gave. Fucking Cancer. (Fucking employer going belly up. What a combo.)
For me Jim's appeal--and more generally the very rough few months he's had with job as well has health--was one of those times when you realize just how much goodwill you've built up toward someone over the years, in so many tiny increments, even though you've never met them. So, hurray for the internet I say.
That's such a rough situation, because the insurance company (when he gets an exchange plan) might not cover that, since it's experimental.
And the trouble is that sometimes being conservative in that way makes the most sense. Agh, so rough.
My private insurance probably wouldn't cover that, since the network is in-state. (Well, actually I have a hybrid Cigna/Tufts plan. Cigna is national, but I don't think that Tufts would cover non-emergency care outside of Massachusetts.)
4
Certainly beats cooking meth.
Apparently I waited too long to give; he's stopped accepting donations at just under $4000.
Given that he heard about this treatment program because Grant Achatz had good luck with it, I hope he raised enough for a research dinner at Alinea or Next. Maybe he didn't mention it because he was worried people would think he was pulling an Ogged?
Thinking about Jim this morning I remembered the famous "Blog" thread, and wondered if it was still on the interwebs -- and sure enough...
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2006/04/07/4991
Re: Next, this has been making the rounds.
A Night at Next Restaurant--If It Served What You Eat at Home
But before we could fully take in our surroundings, three members of Next's staff wheeled out a cart with a microwave on it. Our server announced, "We call this dish Wait, I Thought You Were Going to Take the Chicken out of the Freezer This Morning. "
Inside the microwave there was a rock-solid frozen chicken, locally sourced back in January. The microwave sat by our table the entire evening. Every now and then, a Next team member would stop by to check the bird and then press the defrost button to add another five minutes.
While we waited for the chicken, the courses began.
God that one gets better with age like a fine wine. Nice to see Barry Freed in the mix there (Sifu was expected). Also Jamie (Blood & Treasure) Kenny, John (Evolving Thoughts) Wilkins and Chris (Explananda) Young, all going strong after all these years.
Do these kinds of charity appeals exist in some other form in countries with more sensible healthcare and social safety nets?
Not yet. We're taking careful notes on how it's done so we can do it in a few years when we have to.
20: Good thinking! You might also watch Breaking Bad in case the charity appeal comes up short.
15, 18. That was a classic. Has anyone ever read that whole thread? Just scanning through it I also saw Cryptic Ned. And thanks for the shout-out Chris, it's much appreciated this day just after I've gotten some potentially bad job related news.
Huh, that's the first time I've click on a fund to find it closed and I'm not even more than a day late.