Joshua Lougen is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Maureen Lougen.

Hi, I am raising funds for my mom; Maureen who has been in ICU since November 1st. She has been fighting sepsis, MRSA and pneumonia which required her to be on a ventilator and placed in an induced coma. During that time she suffered kidney failure which required dialysis, several atrial fibrillation events and necrosis of sections of her lungs from the infection. She is improving, but is still on breathing assistance, dialysis and may be permanently disabled and unable to return to work. Her recovery and rehab will take months.

While my mom has good benefits from SUNY Buffalo State they only cover so much. Last week she went down to half pay which won't cover the monthly expenses like the house, utilities etc. not to mention the coming medical bills which will be significant being in ICU for two and half months.

I am legally blind and unable to drive so I cannot to contribute to the monthly income needed at this point. I also hope to return to college next fall semester if my mom is better.

Her debts are starting to pile up and she will need money to help pay for everything which is why I am asking for your help.

We will use the money to pay the current monthly expenses such as...

Please donate, consider donating to my mom's cause. Any amount is greatly appreciated!

DonateShare.

t’s the letter a with a swirl around it, an a curled into the fetal position, just waiting to be born.

The letter a stands for the beginning.

Everyone has a story, and every story has a beginning.

Life begins @ conception.

Dear Guest: you’ve obviously been harmed by someone; I sincerely pray that you find healing. In the meantime, if trolling my stories brings you a moment’s peace, I’m glad they’re here to help you.

"Ends are not bad things, they just mean that something else is about to begin. And there are many things that don't really end, anyway, they just begin again in a new way. Ends are not bad and many ends aren't really an ending; some things are never-ending." -C. JoyBell C.

"Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature -- that baby beating its breast with its fist, for instance -- and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth."

"No, I wouldn't consent," said Alyosha softly
-Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Heckling is an act of cowardice.

If you want to speak,
get up in front of the microphone and speak,
don't sit in the dark hiding.
It's easy to hide and shout and waste people's time.
Billy Connolly

Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas upon which the women paint their dreams. Rudolph Valentino

"The things a man has to have are hope and confidence in himself against odds, and sometimes he needs somebody, his pal or his mother or his wife or God, to give him that confidence. He's got to have some inner standards worth fighting for or there won't be any way to bring him into conflict. And he must be ready to choose death before dishonor without making too much song and dance about it. That's all there is to it." Clark Gable

SELF HARM

(stolen from Huffington Post UK)

There are many widely held beliefs about self-harm which are simply wrong.
If we don't talk about it we can't educate people about self-harm.
It is NOT a failed suicide attempt nor a method of attention seeking.

In most instances, it's a coping mechanism.

The myths surrounding self-harm lead to a massive stigma being attached to it
as people struggling with self-harm are often viewed in a very negative light - as selfish, difficult and weird.

If we take the time to help people really understand why people self-harm
and how many people it affects,
we can change the mood from one of animosity and fear to one of support -
which is exactly what these people most need.

Any story is about a host of things. It is about the author; it is about the world the author sees and deals with and lives in; it is about the words chosen and the way those words are deployed; it is about the story itself and what happens in the story; it is about the people in the story; it is polemic; it is opinion. -- Neil Gaiman

A sign of maturity is when you can listen to constructive criticism without pouting -- Charlie Daniels