I have 4 days before driving to Newark, New Jersey, largest city in the 11th largest state in the Union
Newark is a subway ride away from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. At Sloan Kettering, I have the opportunity to:
Arrange for surgical insertion of a spinal stimulator, which together with daily exercise (a term I replace in my mind with DANCE), will make it possible to replace my daily pain level of 7 or 8 with a level of 4 to 5.
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Between now and the time I get into the rental car with hand controls on Thursday July 23rd , I must raise $500 to make my Newark trip a success.
The reason I am displaying the donation button so conspicuously is because success on the week-long trip to Newark [where I seek to establish permanent residence] is an essential First Step for my plan to reduce pain so I do not have to take Oxycodone, a dreadful drug, to stop from rolling on the floor in agony [literally].
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Note:
- Maimonides says the highest form of tzedakah [translated charity; the spirit of the Hebrew term is not demeaning], is to give a gift, loan, or partnership that will result in the recipient supporting himself instead of living upon others.
- With access to state-of-the art medical care, I can reduce crippling pain to manageable proportion, I can be a part of an emerging new medical discipline monitoring decades-long cancer survivors. The radiation treatment [on relatively primative equipment by today’s standards] that prevented me from dying before I was 30 years old had severe consequences. I cannot walk. The radiation treatment also led to the deterioration of the spine causing my six month-long effort to live with extreme pain. The effects of radiation are responsible for my having developed kidney cancer. Because of the quality of the imaging and the skill of my world class surgeon, the malignant tumor surrounding my right kidney was removed in tact. That means I will die of something else other than kidney cancer. The damage done by radiation treatment over twenty years ago poses potential threats to my health. Being regularly monitored by the best cancer experts means I may be able to avoid further damage that would impair my productivity (not to mention threaten my life). Especially encouraging is the development of recently created medical device that might make it possible for me to walk again.
- For me access to more sophisticated medical care currently unobtainable in State College, will make it possible for me to honor Maimonides‘ unstated conclusion that as a recipient, I must be conscious of my obligations when I become able to care for myself.
- I must then care for others.
- Becoming independent of my afflictions means I can return more productively to my life’s work: creating generational-integrated housing and communities for low- and middle-income elderly and disabled men and women.
- Becoming independent means that I say goodbye to State College, PA where I have lived happily for 10 years. As I discussed with Mayor Elizabeth Goreham, I plan to submit to Town Manage Ed LeClair a Patrick Geddes-style study on Sate College and its future.
- Becoming independent means I complete the nearly-finished study for the Pennsylvania Housing Research Center on how to renovate existing housing for mobility disabled adults so they can live independently.
- Becoming independent will make for my promising business partnership with Amigo Mobility and Gem Wheelchairs and Scooters so I can earn money while working on projects to help the disabled.
For now: –30–