Through combined efforts of the online community, her friends were able to raise over $70,000 and pay off her house and her medical bills. If you donated or helped spread the word, thank you for your time and generosity.

Lori leaves behind a son, Jackson, who will continue to live in the home that you helped save. Please keep Lori’s son and her family and friends in your prayers.

Your last sunset?

I’m a firm believer that God orchestrates our days. He sends hummingbirds to flit past our window, gives us red lights to slow us down, and places people in our paths to accomplish His plan for us. That’s what has me nervous. You see, this week in my 30 days journey, the prevailing theme seems to be untimely death.

Let me explain.

• My final psychology paper was based on “My 5 Wishes” a form that expresses your wishes about your health care, dying process, and funeral in the event you are stricken with a terminal disease or are unable to communicate. (It was difficult to write, and I cried through most of it.)
• My activity for 30 Days this week is to write a letter to someone from my past in order to heal old hurts. Except I’ve already done that, so I wrote letters to each of my loved ones, to be read upon my death. I included letters to each of my boys for the day they graduate from school, are baptized into the church, get married, and have their first child. I wrote a heart-wrenching letter to my husband encouraging him to seek love again and raise our children well. I wrote to my mother and brother, telling them how much I love them. I wrote to my aunt, expressing my never-ending gratitude for her love, guidance, and selfless sacrifices.
• This Sunday’s sermon touched on the brevity of life. Any of us could be living our last day, and not even know it.
• The video lesson for my small group shared stories about the untimely deaths of a college student and a five-year old girl.
• The final chapter in my Developmental Psychology textbook was on death and dying.

Now all this talk of death has really gotten to me. I’m not saying I have a morbid fascination with my own demise, I just cant help but wonder if God is preparing me to deal with an untimely death. Maybe mine, maybe the death of someone close to me. Perhaps someday soon these words will prove to be prophetic.

I blogged last month on Lori Hall Steele. The words she wrote about her son became prophetic after she was rendered paralyzed from Lyme Disease.

“Will you look after me when I’m a grown-up?”
I tell him I’ll always be here for him, one way or another. Always always always. Just like my mother is here for me. Just like I was there when he was 3. It is an impossible promise, a gamble with his trust. I secretly pray I don’t let him down, not on this.

The lesson I learned from One Month to Live this week is to get your affairs in order. Tell your kids you love them. Take time to watch the sunset, it may be your last.

Ironically, once again this week Lance has scooped my blog topic a day in advance with this quote:

“The bitterest tear shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone” ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe

If you are a parent, you know that there’s nothing you wouldn’t do for your kids. You watch hours of Sponge Bob, pretend to like asparagus, clean up vomit, pinch pennies for that new pair of Sketchers, and read Pat the Bunny for the millionth time. You lose sleep, become poor, skip showers and personal hygiene rituals, ponder their needs at all hours of the day and night, and pray like you’ve never prayed before.

But what would you do if you were unable to give your children what they need? I’m not talking about not having enough money to take them to the movies and buy pizza because gas went up, again. I mean physically not able to provide for them- becoming completely dependent upon the goodwill of strangers and friends to care for your family?

Well, one of our own knows intimately what it feels like to stare into little eyes and be unable to quell the tears staining your beloved child’s face.  Lori Hall Steele is a gifted freelance writer and single mother to seven-year-old Jack. Last fall, Lori was stricken with inexplicable paralysis that slowly spread throughout her body.  Currently, Lori is confined to a hospital bed. She has been diagnosed with a severe case of Lyme’s Disease, and possibly ALS.

This once vibrant woman is now paralyzed- dependent on a type of ventilator to breath normally, and a staff of health care givers to meet even her most basic needs. She is unable to work or care for her son.

To add to this tragedy, Lori is now in danger of losing her home to foreclosure.  Adding insult to injury, since she is a freelancer, she has no health insurance and is amassing large hospital bills by the hour.

In her Washington Post article, Not Out of the Woods: A Boy and ‘Bambi’, Lori writes about her then four-year-old son, Jack, who asks:

Lori wrote those prophetic words three years ago, before her illness began, before becoming a single mother, before she faced losing everything to a disease that is out of her control.

Helping Lori

We now have the chance to make a difference in the life of a bright freelance writer and loving mother desperately in need of assistance.

The freelance writing community is getting involved, and we challenge you to get involved as well. Her friends have set up a blog about Lori, and freelance writers Kristen Hains, Jane Boursaw, and Rachel Weingarten have put up a website to help save Lori’s House. Renegade Writer has issued a blog-a-thon challenge to benefit Lori as well.

How Can You Help?

• Spread the word about Lori. Send emails, blog about Lori, change your Facebook page.
• Donate to Save Lori’s House. (even $5 will help if we all pitch in)
• Email Michigan Senators (see links below)
• PRAY for Lori, Jack, her family, and the doctors and nurses caring for her. Start your local prayer chains, sponsor a prayer vigil, or add Lori to your church’s prayer list. Pray earnestly and pray often.

Everyone can do something. Please, help support a fellow freelance writer and her little boy.

Blue Duck Copy will be praying for Lori every hour, on the hour during business hours and several times during down time.  Please join with us in praying for Lori’s recovery. There is tremendous power in prayer. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” –James 5:16b. Another translation of the Bible states, “ When a believing person prays, great things happen.”

We will also be donating one half of the business’ weekly tithe to Lori’s fund every week until she is back on her feet. I encourage you to do the same if you feel led to help.

If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can mail letters, cards of encouragement, and donations to:

Lori Hall Steele
c/o Denali & Co.
Po Box 1015
Traverse City, MI 49685

More Ways to Help

According to Lori’s website:

You can read more updates on Lori’s condition here: http://www.hallsteele.blogspot.com or a great piece  on Lori’s story here: Can friends and a website save a sick woman’s house?

To find out how you can help, write to Jane Boursaw: Jane@savelorishouse.com or Kristen Hains Kristen@savelorishouse.com

Join the FaceBook group here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=27262941938&ref=mf

Lori puts a human face on the current mortgage and inadequate healthcare crises facing our nation. If you’re a member of the press interested in doing a story on Lori please contact Rachel Weingarten:   rachel@shoutoutpr.com or Erin D. erin@bigbocapr.com

Buzz it up – story about Lori on Yahoo

Read the press release

Tell a friend, forward the link, if you live in Michigan call your local congressperson to spread the word.

Give a little or a lot to help save Lori’s house!
Write to Congressman Dave Camp here and ask him to help champion Lori’s cause.

Write to Senator Jason Allen to encourage him to help out too!