A couple of days ago, frequent commenter Svensker talked about a friend of hers who had some problems, and I asked her to elaborate a little and find out if there was anything we could do to help. We emailed back and forth for a few days, and here is the back story:

I have an amazing friend on the west coast. She’s smart, funny, quirky and a fantastic artist, who designs intricately detailed, one-of-a-kind art quilts made from found textiles. A number of her quilts have been acquired by the International Quilt Study Center & Museum at the University of Nebraska. She survived a bout with breast cancer a few years ago but was feeling good as she approached her 5 year remission anniversary, she had a decent job as an editor, and life seemed pretty good.

Then a few months ago she got laid off from her editing job. She managed to keep up her health insurance, which is good,thing, because she was just diagnosed with liver cancer—treatable, but expensive, even with insurance. She was struggling to bring in some income (e-bay, on-line selling, freelancing editing, etc.) and seeming to do OK…then I didn’t hear from her. Called, e-mailed, nothing. 2 weeks go by. She e-mailed yesterday to say that she’d just got out of the hospital, where she was admitted after collapsing at home. Reason she collapsed? Malnutrition. Isn’t it lovely not to have enough money to pay for food AND medical expenses?

The doctor’s trying to get her strength up before they begin chemo, which they hope to start next week. My friend’s trying not to think about the fact that she is piling up huge bills on her co-pay and, at the same time, doesn’t have much energy left over to work. As an older single woman without any family to fall back on, her options right now are pretty slim.

If you’d like to “meet” my friend and see some of her work here’s a link to a show that Oregon Public Broadcasting did about her in 2000.