Support for My Colleague and Friend Marcus

I am shamelessly seeking support for my friend Marcus, a mad scientist of Mac and PC, cat lover, vintage BMW motorcycle rider and an incredibly funny human in the face of adversity, as he is facing a long, painful hiatus from his ability to make a living.  He has started a crowd funding campaign to support medical bills and living expenses during his recovery.  

Please read the message he sent, true to form in his unique ability to draw genuine laughter and hope while delivering brutally hard news:


"delicious bone marrow"

Well, it's transplant time. Please enjoy the following form letter.

Apparently the chemo doesn't work any more and my immediate outlook is as sad as a frog playing a banjo. Therefore, I'm reluctantly telling everyone what's up and that I'm now actively fundraising. And what's up is that I'm due for an autologous bone marrow transplant which will begin soon - probably in August. It will take several weeks to complete the initial harvest of stem cells, followed by a few weeks of high dosage chemo and full blast radiation therapy in order to kill what remains of my original marrow, and then the actual transplant followed by a few weeks of 24/7 medical care. As I understand it, the transplant itself resembles the punishment for witches in the old days. I won't be able to move, cook, work, eat, drive, or do much of anything but lay around and watch Top Gear while barfing for about six months. In short, a selfish little medical holiday for myself.

So to try and make the best of this I'm eating a large humble pie and serving it with a side of crow.

I've created a personal fundraising site at GiveForward.com. I'm told by young, gluten-free people who refer to bands like Nickelback as "classic rock" that this kind of fundraising is properly referred to as "crowdsourcing." I'm told by my German friends that this isn't necessary at all in the developed world. But here in the States I have to beg for money. If you or anyone you care to forward this to wouldn't might rounding out the crowdsourcing and perhaps contribute a little something-something, you can do so here:

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/x5z4/marcus-bone-marrow-campaign

If you cannot contribute a bit of coinage I completely understand. But if you wish you might consider contributing in other ways. Because of my insistence of single bachelor living, I will eventually require a constant delivery of tacos and a little company. Perhaps someone to drive me to the hospital, fetch pills from the pharmacy, etc. And if someone could feed Kitten, my 22-year-old cat, that would be lovely also. More news of these needs will develop as I'm presented with the actual surgery and recovery schedules.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so for reading this and/or contributing. I apologize in advance for delivering bad news. Also, I wrote this form letter and blasted it to everyone in my address book. If we haven't spoken in years, or you're a business client, or if you hate me, or if you've forgotten who I am, I apologize double for that. It's embarrassing to have to write things like this.

Your handsome pal,
Marcus