Remember Qia? Her player will probably die soon, if no help is coming.

[Mrokii]

I am skeptical about his demands too. I find it a bit hard to believe that there is a several years wait time for such a surgery in Canada, especially if it is as vital for his life as he claims.

I can't say much about the medical system in Canada, but Raven said that these kinds of surgery are low priority and therefore are scheduled way behind more "important" surgeries. It basically seems to me that the health system in Canada is not in a very good shape. I just heard from another friend from Canada that she has to wait six months for an appointment with a dentist despite having cavities and pain.

[Mrokii]

It might help if there was someone coordinating the care and allocation of resources on Raven's behalf like his wife or a social worker? Perhaps people might feel more comfortable donating if that were the case.

There is nobody like that, as far as I know.

It looks like prior to the birth of his daughter, he wasn't complaining about his ills.

Nope, that's not quite true. It's just that his illness/sensitivies seem to have gradually gotten worse, and the infection spreading speeding things up into the wrong direction. Raven, as far as I can say, loves his daughter and does not see her as a burden at all. In fact, Malaika is one of the things that has made him doing this campaign.

[Donari Tyndale]

Thank you very much for all this information, Mrokii. Unfortunately, it again boils down to Raven's subjective assessment, and what we really need is some piece of information from a doctor.

[bilbous]

So Donari, you are suggesting that someone put sensitive personal medical information on the internet where anyone can steal it and use it for uncertain purposes? "Here is my BC hospital insurance program number, the doctors name that has treated me, my name and address, date of birth,and other assorted information, do you believe me now?" Hey who is that undocumented guy using my information to get treatment, should I be worried about that?

At some point you have to either take a leap of faith or move on. This constant probing for more information is unseemly and does not belong here. Ask your questions where he is asking for donations and not here where his friend is just putting up a notice.

[Volki]

I think Donari is saying he wants confirmation from a trustworthy source. Not personal information, but someone who might be able to vouch for Raven and who has the medical knowledge to be trusted.

This campaign would be more believable if it was only raising money for the surgery. As of now, many people who would help are not helping because they are skeptical about the high costs. It would also be much more marketable if people could know they were helping someone who legitimately needed something like a surgery, which could be all he needs, and not the extraneous items added to the campaign.

[Donari Tyndale]

So Donari, you are suggesting that someone put sensitive personal medical information on the internet where anyone can steal it and use it for uncertain purposes? "Here is my BC hospital insurance program number, the doctors name that has treated me, my name and address, date of birth,and other assorted information, do you believe me now?" Hey who is that undocumented guy using my information to get treatment, should I be worried about that?

At some point you have to either take a leap of faith or move on. This constant probing for more information is unseemly and does not belong here. Ask your questions where he is asking for donations and not here where his friend is just putting up a notice.

Bilbous, I think mutual trust is a requirement for something like this to work.

[Mrokii]

Thank you very much for all this information, Mrokii. Unfortunately, it again boils down to Raven's subjective assessment, and what we really need is some piece of information from a doctor.

I am sorry that you think that way. I can only say that Raven, at least at the moment, is most probably too exhausted, to go to that other doctor who wrote something about his environmental sensitivities.

I guess it doesn't change much, but I want to mention that it isn't necessarily the sinusitis as such that is so exhausting and draining his energy. It is more the long-term clogging of his throat and sinuses that often tie Raven to his bed. He had often told me that he needs many minutes, up to an hour or two, to cough up mucous, just to be able to breath relatively normal. He also has to drink lots of water (far more than one would drink regularly) to not dehydrate. Apparently, his body produces huge amounts of thick mucous, and that makes it very, very difficult for him to breathe.
As I said before, I know exactly how people can wither away who suffer from low oxygen-intake. My father had extreme lung damage (for other reasons), so much so that he needed an apparatus to inhale oxygen 24/7, just to live. And even with that, he withered away, dying more and more each day. And that happened *without* any kind of infection.
I know I probably won't convince you of anything I stated, but so be it. I am absolutely convinced that Ravens' situation is very, very serious and that he does need the help he asks for. It is generally very difficult for him to aks for *any* help, and he would not do it, if the situation weren't life-threatening. That is what I'm convinced of, and I'm not the only one of his (few) friends who's very worried about him. But again, I'm sure that won't convince you. But still, I wanted to express how I feel about his situation as I see it.
Plus, he will soon have to deal with the fact that his land

[Mrokii]

This campaign would be more believable if it was only raising money for the surgery. As of now, many people who would help are not helping because they are skeptical about the high costs. It would also be much more marketable if people could know they were helping someone who legitimately needed something like a surgery, which could be all he needs, and not the extraneous items added to the campaign.

No offense meant, but I don't understand your arguments, really.

As I have said before, the *main* goal is the surgery, and (assuming he gets the money necessary for the surgery) he will use it for exactly that purpose. If Raven would reach this goal alone, there's a very good chance that this would help draining the mucous from his sinuses. The broken nose seems to be one big reason why the mucous can't drain properly.
Maybe it was a mistake to add all the other items (which might be of secondary importance, once the surgery is done successfully). But you have to understand that Raven has tried to be as straight forward as he could be. He *knows* that a lot of what he's saying and thinking might sound outlandish to others without lengthy explanations, but he is also a perfectionist (and somebody who doesn't ask for help easily, I might add, even if that sounds funny to you) and so he wanted to reveal as much of himself as possible, so people would know who they're dealing with.

It's most unfortunate that it isn't easy to explain how Raven thinks in a few short sentences. I can only say, that I, having talked to him for years extensively, regard him as one of the most logical thinking humans I've ever met. Raven *never* states something he doesn't thoroughly believe in and I've never experienced him as somebody with delusions. Whenever he had told me something that sounded "weird" about him, he always had logical reasons and, if he have the energy, he would be able to explain his arguments in a logical way. But he's a perfectionist to the extremes, and these explanations would take a long time. Unfortunately that isn't possible at the moment. People will have to trust him (or me) or they don't. There's not much else I can do or say at the moment.

[Mrokii]

To all the people following this threat,

unfortunately I won't be available from Friday, 22nd to Friday 29th, due to a personal trip that couldn't be rescheduled. Therefore I won't be able to visit this forum during the following week, so any questions will be answered with some delay.
For now, thank you all for your input, may it be questions, concerns or good wishes.

[Rigwyn]

Has he tried reaching out to immediate family and real-life friends? People like that might be more sympathetic and better judges of his need.



 

[Donari Tyndale]

I've never experienced him as somebody with delusions.

Yet he clearly has delusions as indicated on his website? I mean, no offense, but his idea to program a brain/human transcendence computer program is quite obviously a delusion.

[Mrokii]

Hello,

I am back after a longer time-out period than I anticipated, due to reasons I don't want to talk about at the moment.

I've never experienced him as somebody with delusions.

Yet he clearly has delusions as indicated on his website? I mean, no offense, but his idea to program a brain/human transcendence computer program is quite obviously a delusion.

If I didn't know that you can't know Raven as good as I do, I would take that as an offense. Raven does have some autistic traits and an extremely analytical mind, and the way he talks is the way he describes what he's doing to change his behaviour. I guess you don't know anybody with autistic traits who can even talk about the differences of their mind, but Raven did talk to me for a long time and to me his explanations sounded logical.

[Mrokii]

Has he tried reaching out to immediate family and real-life friends? People like that might be more sympathetic and better judges of his need.

Yes, he has. And some of them do help him. But Raven has a way of reacting to illogical behaviour that alienates him from people. Part of it is because he naturally notices all kinds of imbalances in peoples' lives (of those he cares deeply about) and very often points these out, in a way to help them. So, all in all, he only has a few friends these days and none of them are rich enough to help him out on his goal.

[Rigwyn]

Extremely analytical, out of the box, hyper lateral, super special thinking is not of much use when there is little to no executive function. Seriously, it sounds like this dude needs to pair up with someone who has a little more common sense and can fill in the gaps for him. A group home or half way house ( ie. assisted living ) might be something to look at. At least he would have someone to look out for him and help him with money management and things like that.

In the US, we have group homes for adults with autism (read: "Autistic Spectrum or ASD") and other disabilities. They provide them with a balance of independence and support as well as disability checks from the government. I'm not sure how this is done in Canada. 

( The other option is to get a wife, but that could prove to be tricky and hard to back out of. )