Out of character moment. I want to let you all know about Operation Fi from my perspective. I’ve chosen to put this on Tumblr, as I dislike being out of character for long on Facebook, and this will probably be a pretty long rant.

Operation Fi was created by Farore (on Facebook and Tumblr) and Hipster Link (on Facebook and Tumblr) on my behalf, offering art commissions in exchange for donations so that I can afford to go to the hospital. They are among the few people who know the true identity of Fi’s admin (the one that isn’t a cat, i.e. me), and over the past months since I’ve joined the Facebook Zelda page community, we’ve grown very close. As my trusted friends, and especially due to Farore’s interest in medicine, they have also become aware of my medical issues, which I will get into later. At any rate, I came home from work last night to see that the foundations of Operation Fi had already been set, and all they needed from me was confirmation that it was okay for them to finally announce the fund was for me — they’d been leaving things vague during the set-up phase, simply saying it was for the admin of a friend’s page in the community. Surprised that anyone would go to such lengths for me, I consented, and Operation Fi was a go.

Since its inception less than a day ago, Operation Fi has already attracted the attention of literal thousands. More artists have already signed on, including Dr. Scyther, Navi, Linebeck, and Playrule (on Facebook and Tumblr). People have been making songs and videos for me, most notably Church.

I have been drowning in messages of love and support (and notifications!), and I never expected any of this. I am so grateful to all of you, whether you’ve been offering commissions, ordering commissions, spreading the word, or even just praying for me. This is all still very surreal to me, to have so many people who have never met me care about me so much, even though I never asked for it. To be honest, I don’t even feel worthy of such a beautiful outpouring of love. I’m still in awe that so many people have come together for this cause… on the internet… for me. I can’t thank you guys enough.

Almost a year ago now, in May of 2011, I had to go to the hospital due to severe pain I’d been ignoring for months, among other symptoms I would like to remain private. Due to my lack of health insurance, I was all but physically forced to go; I knew that if I tried to ignore the pain much longer, it would affect my ability to perform at work, so in the end I didn’t have much choice. I went to the emergency room at a hospital in the area that I was told had exceptional care for those without insurance, and I suppose relatively speaking, the costs were lower than what they could have been (the hospital itself was very rundown and dirty, and a lot of the equipment looked older than I was); however, my hospital bill for all the tests and the painkillers (morphine burns like hell intravenously, by the way) was more than what I made that year, even though I was only there for a few hours. I still haven’t even been able to dent that debt. Worse, the tests showed that there was definitely an abnormality, and while again I would rather not get into detail due to privacy concerns, I was told that it could be cancer, among a couple other diseases that would still permanently affect me, though less severely. I was directed to visit a specialist to be sure whether it was indeed cancer, and told that due to my “financial priority level” (translation: poorness), that I would likely have to wait a few weeks for an appointment. Hospitals don’t like to treat people when they know they’ll probably never get paid.

The week before my specialist appointment came up, my symptoms went into remission. The pain faded, so I made the excuse to myself that maybe I didn’t need to put myself thousands of dollars deeper in debt. Four months later, in September, the problems came back, and they’ve been growing worse ever since.

A couple weeks ago, I nearly fainted at work and had to be sent home for the first time ever. It was a terrible, embarrassing feeling, not being able to handle my duties. I still didn’t want to leave. I guess I’m a bit stubborn. I vented in Skype about it, which is how Farore and Hipster Link know what happened. Over the past six months, the pain has slowly returned (it’s usually sharp pain a few times a day, but sometimes it takes a day off), and now I’ve been getting severe dizziness and nausea along with it. That’s in addition to the symptoms I’m keeping private. The day I collapsed, it suddenly became a lot harder to ignore the fact that I was told I might have cancerous tissue growing in me nearly a year ago, and since then I’ve been trying to find some way to get this thing taken care of before it takes care of me. Financially, though, I’m kind of at a loss.

Farore, as I stated, has an interest in medicine, and she is also aware of my unstated symptoms, as is Hipster Link. Most of my co-workers also know what’s going on, and I’ve been urged to go to the hospital by all of these people, but I know that if I do, I will likely be in inescapable debt until I’m old and gray. Out of everyone that knows about my condition, it was the Zelda community who decided to take initiative, and this has moved me to tears. I realize now that I had given up on myself. I had resigned myself to just waiting to see whether I died or not, because the medical testing seemed so out of reach.

So, there you have it. This is why Operation Fi was created. If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact me, either personally through messaging the Fi admin page (Swordspirit Fi), or by commenting on the Operation Fi page.

Again… thank you all. You have my eternal gratitude for your support.

May Hylia bless you. <3

More information can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/OperationFi

PayPal donations can be sent to: OperationFi@mail.com

faroresferrari:

this friend can’t afford cancer and admins a Fi page on facebook; myself and multiple artists are running commissions to raise money for their testing and potential chemotherapy - or at the very least surgery.

We have had over two thousand dollars pledged to Operation Fi in one night.

I can’t even begin to describe my reaction, but I can’t stop crying.

Internet friends are the best friends. <3