ROUGH 'Help Andy' letter from PDA - Democratic Underground

WilliamPitt

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Apr-29-05 04:11 PM
Original message

ROUGH 'Help Andy' letter from PDA

This isn't done yet, still getting edits etc. from PDA crew. I wanted to see if any of you have anything to add. Please don't forward until I call it final, and thanks.

===

A great friend of the activist community named Andy Stephenson needs our help. Andy has been a tireless fighter for election reform in America for years. He worked closely with the Black Box Voting organization, spent every waking moment traveling and speaking on the issue of electronic touch-screen voting machines, and even ran for Secretary of State in Washington on a platform based on this specific issue.

I remember meeting up with him last August in Seattle for a Rolling Thunder event. The day was dedicated to a variety of group conversations on topics ranging from the Iraq occupation to environmental protection to electronic voting and the upcoming election. Every gathering where Andy came to speak was packed, and he described in eerily prescient detail what eventually happened in Ohio and elsewhere during the November presidential election.

Several weeks ago, Andy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was recently told that he must undergo what is called a Whipple Procedure. This is a very serious surgery that few hospitals in America are skilled enough to perform well. Fortunately, some friends managed to get Andy a slot at Johns Hopkins Medical Center, one of the premier hospitals for this type of procedure. He is slated for the procedure in the second week of May.

Unfortunately, the hospital requires a $25,000 down-payment before they assent to doing the Whipple, and requires another $25,000 once the procedure is done. Andy Stephenson does not have health insurance; activists like Andy rarely do, because there is little money to be made in trying to do good. In this, Andy is like millions of other Americans who do not have health insurance and thus face financial ruin if they get sick.

What Andy Stephenson is going through right now is a perfect example of why Universal Health Care for all Americans is needed, and needed now. When you get sick, you should be able to get help, period. Our for-profit health care system is a betrayal of the most basic of human requirements: Care for those in need. The quality of health care available should not be based on how much money you have in the bank, or whether you are fortunate enough to work for a company that can itself afford to offer health coverage, or whether you have friends who can help you.

Andy’s friends have to date managed to raise about $7,000 to put towards the fee for his procedure. So much still remains to be done for him. Andy Stephenson is one of the main reasons why people have become aware of the gross flaws and potential for fraud that exists with the new corporate-owned electronic touch-screen voting machines. Even though he is sick, he is still speaking to whoever will listen, wherever they may be, to continue pressing this issue. He is one of the most dedicated people I have ever been privileged to know.

If you can, please give to the fund for Andy. You can do this electronically via Amazon’s PayPal process:

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P2TRHRVBGX9KOX/102-6873839-9047353

If you prefer to donate via check outside the electronic process, please send to:

Andy Stephenson
P O Box 25624
Seattle, WA 98165-1124

Thank you so much.

William Rivers Pitt
Editorial Director
Progressive Democrats of America