The Philippines Changed Me And Saved Me. More than once. Steemit came to my aid at my darkest moment.
It is my wish to confirm to everyone that @cryptopie is who he claims, and to help him too.
Hello Steemit. I seldom talk about my ongoing illness.
Recently I finally relinquished my job that has been held for me for the entire year.
I had to let it go and in a way admit defeat.
My focus was so fixed on getting back to work, it defined me.
I loved my job.
I have been a nurse for 20 years. Helping other people, truly making meaningful connections with them at their most vulnerable, made my heart swell.
I felt privileged to share their struggles.
Thanks to the support of so many of you, I have found solace and kinship in steemit.
It is always nice to see your post jump in value, but I am being honest when I tell you that the best steemit moment for me was seeing the flood of support that swamped my husband @azurejasper when he revealed my illness.
https://steemit.com/life/@azurejasper/sharing-this-isn-t-easy-for-me-and-i-m-not-comfortable-about-it-but-this-community-has-become-so-important-to-girlbeforemirror
I saw a bit of light in his eyes as he left for work that day.
We are in Australia, so often we wake to the day that was, in the world of steemit.
I can't report to you that I am cured.
It seems the leaks from my brain have been patched, but the complications of EDS and a year of deconditioning have prevented recovery.
Many of my symptoms are unchanged and I am still seeking the right treating doctor who has an understanding of my condition from a connective tissue perspective.
But I have hope.
Hope that is largely due to the ongoing support from you. And the wonderful distractions of a steemit contest.
I have a limit to what I can do in a day, and it is usually accomplished by having long periods of rest.
I always type to you lying down and tapping away on my phone.
My life is an extreme contrast to the person I was just over a year ago.
My first post referenced my marathon running and it was soon followed by an epic 6000 word chronicle of my megamarathon. I am proud of the accomplishment, but I must warn you the post is a heavy read.
https://steemit.com/life/@girlbeforemirror/why-i-pledged-to-run-almost-300kms-for-a-man-i-had-never-met-who-had-accused-a-man-i-had-loved-all-my-life-of-the-most-heinous
This is a photo from that post.
I am second from the left (literally being held up by my teammates.)
I want to reference in particular, the shirt I am wearing and the purple medal.
The Gold Coast Marathon was the last marathon leg of the 300km run I did in 2016.
The shirt is the finisher shirt from that final event.
The purple medal is a medal issued to bravehearts777 Team upon completion also.
Unique items.
Over the past months like many of us, I have followed the remarkable story of @cryptopie.
I watched with a mixture of compassion, intrigue and also scepticism, as a man boldly chronicled what seemed to most lucky people who live in relative privilege, an unlikely or at least shocking story.
Then came @dandelion and @steemitph's post about their visit.
I weighed up the pros and cons and decided that believing him and possibly helping, outweighed the risk of possibly being deceived.
I made contact and offered advocacy.
Not money, not steem, but someone to network the available help.
He graciously accepted and praised me as though I was sent from god.
A very humbling experience for me.
So I have been spending my little moments here and there canvassing the globe.
We have not triumphed yet. But I am only just getting started.
But I want to once and for all clarify any suspicion as to the identity of @cryptopie and his genuine need for our care and assistance.
So this is what I am doing next.
I am posting him my Gold Coast finishers shirt and my bravehearts medal.
Perhaps he has clever accomplices that can reproduce those things. I here you thinking it. It's OK, you are not alone.
I am going to draw my distinct doodle scribble art on them, and take a photo of them prior to posting them.
When he receives them he can show you my scribble art treasures and I will confirm that they match the photographs I take prior to sending them.
I will send these images ahead of posting to trusted steem Papa @papa-pepper.
I hope that is OK Papa?
The parcel will also be post marked from Australia.
I am not in the Philippines and am not an expat.
I have been to the Philippines.
It was 1994. I was a teenager. I spent some time in Manila with my dad. I had a teenage attitude and didn't know how lucky I was to travel with him on a business trip.
But I was profoundly effected by the place and the people.
I was heading into my last year of high school completely unprepared and consumed by my tiny world, and the opportunities I had taken for granted and squandered.
I was also a sad scared little girl on a path of self destruction.
Seeing the people in Manilla and the vast number of people living in very difficult situations was a wake up to a spoilt Aussie teenager.
I felt tiny.
In a comforting way. My problems were insignificant.
Encountering @cryptopie, again The Filipino people have rescued me from my insular existence.
Putting my own issues aside has helped me in ways I had not imagined. I am less occupied with my pain and limited life.
It is my hope that once he receives a parcel from a long time steemit user, from outside of his country, that the speculation about his situation will be resolved.
Then we can really start working together to make a difference for Arnold Martin.
Steemit Philippines discord welcome you to get in touch with them. Please visit charity-volunteers chat.
Or you can contact me in steemchat @girlbeforemirror
Discord @GirlBefore7455
This could be the greatest collaborative steem project to date.
But it will take a community. I believe we are up for the challenge.
I initially had that skepticism too but in the end I did not care and took that chance. If I was wrong, I would feel foolish and sad that I could have possibly contributed to others donating to a false cause, but in the End I didn't care. I chose to Take a Chance on a Human Being, who is a son, brother, uncle etc, half way across the world regardless of the outcome. My intentions to help were all that mattered in the end, and the true medium, This New, Great and Revolutionary medium called STEEMIT.COM makes it all possible.
Your efforts will hopefully erase any and all doubt so that yes, we can continue to fight for @cryptopie because now we have given him hope, so now we have to see this through.
Thank you for your commitment to see it through, we can do this. I do not doubt his story. I believe also if we can have clarity for everyone that there are more capable people than me and he will be helped sooner.
Team Philippines is a growing awesome movement on seemit. They are an amazing group of talented people. They need support to help him get the best possible outcome.
Thank you for the help for @cryptopie. We at @steemph have been trying to reach out and he himself was skeptic of us at first but we want to help. Meeting with him was one thing we thought would help erase any doubts about him and @steemitph and @dandalion, living a town away were happy to pay a visit. We are usually at Steemit Philippines discord and if any of you want to get in touch please visit #charity-volunteers .
Thanks so much for the letter draft I will try to forward to local doctors as well and hope that we get positive response.
This post, your life, and the life of @cryptopie is in many ways most remarkable.
Thank you for resteeming it 😊
I am hoping that @cryptopie will himself comment on this post and agree to receive these items. We can then proceed with the plan I have proposed. I think it is an important step towards collaborating together in a broader way. I am awaiting his response, I have sent him the link.
Thank you so much, very touching message:)
Stay strong. God works in mysterious ways!
you guys are strength to @crytopie.
P.S. sunny hugss to you @girlbeforemirror
Resteemed!
Great idea,
and again, thank-you!
Hope he will be fine. Steemit is his blessing for meeting purehearted people and you're one of them. God bless you!
It's amazing to see how you dedicate your time to others in need. One might believe that especially the people that are NOT suffering from a heavy illness might be the ones that stand up in order to help others. But you just skip the rule, forget about your own fight and use your energy to make others feeling better. That's incredibly wonderful.
Thank you so much, you're a great example to follow!
I am thankful and grateful for all that you are doing for me @girlbeforemirror along with the kind-hearted people whom I believe are God-sent for my rescue.
God Bless you all.
I am starting to complete some laboratory exams plus some x-ray for my chest but I will request for a back and head x-ray just to satiate the reference of the doctors.
Apparently I cannot just go to the doctor that I liked here, I need to go to my nephrologist first and submit her my lab results and then let her refer me to some specialist.
But I am not confident about my doctor as if she would just give me supportive medicines like I will be in a hospice care and wait for my end, it is what I am thinking.
I would just for now follow the system here but will push for what I want to happen.
Again, thank you all for all your support. God will repay you, he definitely will.
I am not seeking repayment. My goal is the same as yours. For you to access appropriate care as fast as possible.
I will forward the items express tomorrow.
It's just my religious belief that any good that is done to people of God will mean blessings, if not in this world but maybe in the world to come.
Anyway, I will be waiting for your parcel.
Do include a vegemite ;)
I am so glad to meet you! As always when I learn about a disease I have to read on it. That's what I just did on EDS. We have many things in common, besides the fact that we are mental health nuses, i am also living with a disease that changed me, fibromyalgia. I know it's much less disabling than EDS because I still can work, but I also need many periods of rest in a day. I have to endure the pain that has become my second nature.
I,too have been following @cryptopie for a while now and my instincts at first told me to believe him so I did. Then came the story of @steemitph and @dandelion that confirmed I did right. Now, to see someone helping him the way you do is inspiring.
I am very glad to meet you and will gladly be following your blog :)
Many people with EDS are diagnosed fibro wrongly. Among other things. It is not as rare as doctors say. Just misunderstood, underdiagnosed and mismanaged.
I have a motivated mind, but my body has given up at the moment at least.
I am hoping to generate more belief and support for Arnold. Because I need more people contacting organisations outside of this platform.
He needs appropriate care and he needs it funded.
I get easily tired, we need a constructive collaborative approach.
Team Philippines are amazing, but they need people outside of the Philippines to help them lobby for his treatment. Say hi on there discord charity chat. A few nurses there are doing amazing things.
You've inspired me to make a post on Fibromyalgia :)
https://steemit.com/health/@jamisa/a-little-bit-about-me-and-my-fibromyalgia
That's great I'll go have a look :)
I am in the world feeling my way to light 'amid the encircling gloom.'
- Mahatma Gandhi
If we all generate just a little flicker of light, together we can blaze.
-I just said that
Thank you for your support
i love the philippines, great food and people!