Please Help the Broke-Ass Bride!

When I was planning my wedding last year (a wedding rich in creativity and slightly tighter on budget) one of my favorite resources was The Broke-Ass Bride blog for inspirations, ideas, and humor.

Now, the blogger, Dana, needs our help. Reading about her plight really tugged at my heart. I know how trying health-related matters (including autoimmune diseases) can be, on both the spirit and the pocketbook.

Even a broke-ass bride can afford to help out both Dana and the American Autoimmune Related Disease Association by tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, donating a recipe or skills or donating a little or a lot via PayPal. You’ll get back some warm-fuzzy feelings and comfort food recipes!

Thanks ya’ll!

-Shanna

From Dana:

The problem
♥  When I was 19 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Uveitis.
♥  My immune system doggedly attacks my eyes causing inflammation, visual disturbances and blurriness. It is incurable and will cause blindness if left untreated.
♥  I also have a very rare deep-tissue form of a disease called Granuloma Annulare, causing a different type of inflammation in my foot, for which I had surgery last year. It is so rare, I am unable to find a doctor who knows how to treat it moving forward.
♥  I’ve had 11 surgeries (at least one, each year, for the past 5 years), to control my diseases and their side effects.
♥  Last month my left eye came out of remission and I’ll be having a 12th surgery.

My surgeries and ongoing care (even with health insurance) have left piles of bills in their wake, and I am now at a point where, without help, I cannot pay for my medical care.

The solution
Our (amazing) friends in the online community have encouraged us to hold an online fundraiser, but receiving without giving isn’t really our jam. To that end…
♥  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 my medical care.
♥  There are incentives for varying levels of donation, which you can learn about here.
♥  The recipes, photos and stories will be teased here 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 my current medical bills
♥  $6,032 to cover our 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 total minimum of $22,000.

Note that this does not include the costs that will be related to my upcoming surger(ies) and ongoing care, nor for prescriptions or post-surgical supplies such as gauze and tape for my eye patch, or prescribed drugs to aid the healing process and protect from further inflammation and prevent infection, etc.

The Details
♥  You can donate any amount you 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 every dollar contributed not only goes toward my medical care, but also toward researching a cure 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 any future surgeries and ongoing medical care.

So, please take a look through the site, learn about the recipes (and the stories behind them) that our amazing friends in the blog community have shared… and please consider making a donation to our cause. Having this autoimmune disease has formed me into the creative, ambitious and irrepressible woman I am today, and it inspired the birth of The Broke-Ass Bride. While no one can yet cure me, the idea that my online community could rally up to ease my condition’s painful and limiting financial side effects… well that gives me hope beyond expression.

Thank you!