MsWings, one of our former I Got the News Today (IGTNT) diarists for several years, is in trouble and has given me permission to write and ask for help.
Many of you may know that MsWings had heart surgery about five years ago, followed by life-threatening complications that left a permanent deformity that has resulted in continual pain. Then in February 2012, she suffered a serious stroke. Although she was making great progress recovering from that first stroke, in May she was hit by a series of transient ischemic attacks (TIA, or mini-strokes). This set her back months, and things have been rough.
MsWings, who devoted countless hours to diaries giving the stories to the often faceless names of U.S. military service members who gave their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, participated in so many community diaries and gave valuable insight on many salient topics. After her stroke and TIA, she lost some of her memory (her email account and DailyKos passwords were the worst, she says, because she lost so much knowledge about how to contact people or even how to get onto DailyKos to read and comment on the site and members' diaries).
She has had trouble with her phone contacts, too, because she cannot remember her log-in information for her (now useless) smartphone. It's basically a paperweight, she says, for the mountains of papers she's trying desperately to keep track of as she schleps through the bureaucracy and bills.
If you wonder why haven't heard from MsWings, she wants you to know it's not because she has forgotten you -- she hasn't; she's just forgotten how to contact you.
She needs you -- and all of us right now. After being tossed from this shore to that because of the outrageous costs and processes of healthcare in the United States, she is about to be evicted from her final refuge. She's being taken to court in a day or two because she needs $200 short to have what she needs for August rent. She has no idea how she'll make her September rent, but she and I are working on that.
Please read more about this courageous woman below the fold.
