A Friend In Need
I am writing this post with no intention to make any profit from it. Instead, I am making a passionate plea to fellow friends and/or future friends that I have yet to meet to first read this post and render any assistance to aid our dear friend @fatpandadesign or better known as the chief commando of #theunmentionables. This is something that me and @littlenewthings came up with to assist in whatever manner that we can to help a friend.
Panda’s Past
To those who knew Ben Schwartz aka @fatpandadesign, he has been through hell hurt, battered and bruised. He was a former heroin addict that has fought the battle against addiction, been through depression, homelessness, substance abuses and drug overdose. He has been beaten, robbed and have all his belongings taken from him in a foreign land. The only thing is that Lord has spared him and gave him another chance at life.
Things hasn’t been smooth sailing for him. For those who wish to know a bit more of @fatpandadesign you are more than welcomed to take a look at his posts.
@fatpandadesign/a-conversation-with-a-friend-that-led-to-a-moment-of-clarity-the-healing-of-an-addict-pt-1
@fatpandadesign/a-fellow-steemian-in-malaysia-made-my-day-random-acts-of-kindness-go-a-long-way
@fatpandadesign/i-wear-this-daily-because-it-s-saved-me-daily
@fatpandadesign/i-was-attacked-robbed-and-now-the-hospital-police-and-holding-my-passport-for-ransom-please-help
@fatpandadesign/my-story-was-featured-on-a-interconnected-pocast-unapologetically-me-addiction-death-truth-and-success
A new hurdle
Just when you least expect, life throws you another challenge even before you can catch your next breath. We all know how it is like to have one misfortune after another. It is never easy, not when you thought you have fought the strongest wave the Lord has given you. Many of us have gone through our own struggle but not many of us have stared DEATH at his face. Benjamin (Ben) Schwartz has.
Being in Malaysia as a tourist, Ben is not as fortunate as to have his healthcare subsidised. He has been battling with pain as a result of some problem to his spine. I came to know of his situation when one of our breakfast appointment has to be cancelled because he was warded. That was when I know things are pretty serious. He even sought treatment in Singapore, burnt a fortune but there was no diagnosis of his problem.
What automatically follows was the medical bills that started to skyrocket. What I can reproduce below is merely a fraction of the entire medical cost which Ben has to foot without the aid of medical insurance and subsidy and he has been paying his bills by working through the pain. If I am to turn a blind eye to this, I am not worth to be called a friend.
My Personal Undertaking
I am calling out to the people that have been through tough times, people that are compassionate, people that care for a friend in need, people that are human first, to be part of this cause. It does not cost us much to give this post an upvote or make a personal donation to an account which I personally will be held accountable to keep the donation on trust for Ben aka @fatpandadesign. I know that so far, his bills has exceeded USD2000 and there are more costs that he will have to incur which may include corrective surgery.
I give a further undertaking that all forms of benefit that my personal account receives, to avoid any profiteering from Ben’s misfortune, I will make a personal donation in excess of any possible benefit small or big that I may receive from the kind people that has donated. My account is open for audit. I will prepare a second posting to account for all monies received as a result of this donation drive.
What Can You Do?
The first thing that you can do is to UPVOTE this post.
The second thing that you can do is to RESTEEM this post.
The third thing that you can do is to give you other fellow steemian a call and request them to UPVOTE this post.
The fourth thing that you can do which goes beyond our mere request for an upvote, is to make a small donation be it in the form of STEEM or SBD to @perennial with a note that says, ‘WE GOT YOUR BACK @FATPANDADESIGN’.
All monies or benefit received shall be channelled absolutely to @fatpandadesign and this includes any STEEM POWER that my account could have benefitted.
I end this post with a quote that I truly believed in:
