dishing for dana...

i just want to put it out there to say that

i am blessed.

i started my blog almost two years ago, never did i ever think that it'd actually go somewhere.

i owe it to a lot of people for endless support and encouragement.

one person that i am extremely for grateful for and so very blessed to know is

Dana from The Broke Ass Bride.

she's been one of the most loyal supporters of my blog and she's helped me learn how to grow

not just as a blogger, but as a person too.  

i even get to blog real weddings for her on The Broke Ass Bride.

i sometimes have to pinch myself that i actually am friends with Dana.

i feel very, so very fortunate to call her a friend.

she's one of the first people to go to when i need advice or help.

Dana has reached out to the whole blogging community for help

and i'm hoping very much so that you'll hear her story and

hopefully you'll be able to spread the word and help her out too.

When Dana was 19, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Uveitis. This means her immune system aggressively attacks her eyes causing dangerous inflammation, visual disturbances and blurriness. It is incurable and will cause blindness if left untreated.

She also has a very rare deep-tissue form of a disease called Granuloma Annulare, causing a different type of inflammation in her foot, for which she had surgery last year. It is so rare, she is unable to find a doctor who knows how to treat it moving forward.

She has endured 11 eye surgeries, at least one, each year, for the past 5 years, to control her diseases and their side effects.

And sadly, just last month her left eye came out of remission and she learned the devastating news that she will need a 12th surgery to manage the inflammation.

Her surgeries and ongoing care (even with health insurance) have left piles of bills in their wake, and she is now at a point where, without help,  

she cannot pay for her medical care.

As a result of this, Dana will not be able to run The Broke-Ass Bride full-time, which in my opinion, would be absolutely devastating.  The Broke Ass Bride is her baby.  She started it and it would just totally suck balls for her not to be able to still continue caring for it.

So here's a solution that Dana and her ever-amazing rad husband, Hunter, have come up with after having received loads of encouragement: hold an online fundraiser, 

however, receiving without giving isn’t really their bag... so this is the plan:

The Fundraiser

♥ We’re compiling beloved comfort food recipes and the stories behind them from the most bad-ass bloggers and beyond… available in varying forms, in exchange for donations to Dana's medical care.

♥ There are incentives for varying levels of donation, which you can learn about here.

♥ The recipes, photos and stories will be teased on our Dishing for Dana blog, and once a donation is processed, a password to access the full recipes will be released to each donor.

The Goal

♥ $13,000 to cover current medical bills

♥ $6,032 to cover health insurance premiums for the remainder of 2011

♥ $2,000 to donate to the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association toward helping others with autoimmune disease

For a minimum total of $22,000.

 

The Details

♥ People can donate any amount they choose, no minimum, no rules. Because every quarter is a quarter more than we had yesterday. It all adds up.

♥ We will donate 10% of all proceeds up to our goal, to the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association, so that every dollar contributed not only goes toward my medical care, but also to benefit everyone with autoimmune disease.

♥ Anything raised in excess of the goal will be split 50/50 with the AARDA – our portion of which will be saved in a dedicated, interest-bearing account toward future surgeries and ongoing medical care.

For more details, please visit Dana's fundraising site: Dishing For Dana

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. 

Any kind of help you can give is very much appreciated.

I know I'll be submitting a recipe soon...and it will most definitely be a dessert one too.



xoxo,