Calloway's Fund

A message from Calloway, 9/3/16:

Dear Friends,

As Jay has said, what has happened here over the last few days is just staggering, and to try to reduce how much this outpouring of support means to a few words wouldn't do justice to your generosity and love. Still, I hope you'll bear with me as I fumble through an attempt anyway...

As you may know, one of the more...piquant ironies of my diagnosis is that I spend a lot of time thinking about illness and health in the ancient world. One thing you read and hear a lot about is the isolation of sickness, and particularly of those suffering through cancer. And while this last two and a half months have certainly been textured with a lot of different feelings—fear and confusion, frustration and disappointment (and also hope!!)—one thing I have never felt is alone. What I've witnessed over the last few days has been no less than a map of the people and places that have enriched my life: from family to childhood friends, Kenyonians and Nature campers, to those I met in North Carolina and then in New York, I've somehow collected and keep a remarkable group of people in my life. So I want to thank you all, not only for lending a hand, but for being the sort of people who have made sure that neither Kimmie nor I have ever felt alone, in the tough times and the good, and say that we look forward to spending much, much more of the latter with you soon.

All love and gratitude,

Calloway and Kimmie

Update, 9/2/16

Dear all,

To say that the response here has been incredible would grossly understate what’s been happening in the last few days. We have set and surpassed goal after goal in this campaign and the support just seems to keep coming. A few days ago, we set what we thought might be an ambitious target. Your contributions have now doubled that target amount in a little over a day. The urge to help is clearly very strong, so we have again raised the goal to accommodate the additional donations coming in. Thank you all so much for all you’ve done already, and thanks to those of you coming here today to make a contribution. Your support is deeply appreciated and your kindness is truly inspiring.

Update, 8/30/16:

Dear Friends and Supporters,

This is a hard update to post, but you all need to know. The initial diagnosis for Calloway's tumor has been changed. He is not dealing with a grade 2 glioma, but a grade 3 astrocytoma (or anaplastic astrocytoma). This kind of tumor requires a much more aggressive course of treatment, which for Calloway means concurrent radiation and daily oral chemotherapy over the next six weeks, and then a year of chemo, administered one week out of the month for the next twelve months. You can learn more about grade 3 astrocytoma here: http://www.abta.org/secure/glioblastoma-brochure.pdf).

This is clearly not the news Calloway and Kimmie were hoping for, and this has been an extremely difficult week for them, but what you all have done to help support them has given them a very substantial and much-needed boost at a very challenging time. Below is Calloway's email responding to the news about the fund:

“Let me begin by saying that when K and I first read this we pretty well burst into tears and are still a bit overcome by the whole thing. The last two and a half months have offered a lot of challenges, and the last week in particular has felt like a waking nightmare. Still, we have been reminded again and again of the generosity and unflagging support of our friends, an amazing consolation that underlines the people and relationships that are really important. But this is something altogether different. I hope you can forgive me if I still don't know quite how to respond to the...magnitude of this, other than to say how amazing it is to have friends who could put something like this together.  It means more than you can know and our hearts are full to bursting which, right now, is pretty welcome medicine :).”

With all they are dealing with, we have advised them not to try to respond individually to every donor. Contributions continue to come in, and we would like to leave the fund open for at least the next few weeks. Now that Calloway and Kimmie know about it, we can spread the word without worrying about ruining any surprise, so please continue to share this as widely as you can. We had conceived of this fund as a way to help them with incidental medical and rehabilitation expenses and other little costs along the way. What has changed is that Calloway’s current diagnosis means a longer road to recovery. What hasn’t changed, and what won’t, is how encouraging every effort to help can be--whether monetary or otherwise--and how much our friends mean to us, and we to them.

Original post with first update follows below:

As many of you already know, our friend and colleague Calloway Scott underwent brain surgery on August 10th to have a grade 2 glioma removed. The surgery appears to have been a success, but it was only the beginning of a long process. As he continues on his path to recovery, we thought it would be helpful to put together a fund for Calloway and Kimmie to help defray some of the rehabilitation costs, and to make their lives a little easier during this difficult period.

Please note that this isn’t a plea to cover the entirety of Calloway’s medical bills (thank you, insurance) but rather to lighten the burden of all the unseen expenses that inevitably arise in these situations, and to provide Kimmie and Calloway with our support and reassurance while they concentrate on Calloway’s recovery. We shouldn't forget, of course, that a donation is not the only way to help - an email, a phone call, or dropping off a meal also means a lot.

If you don't know Calloway, he is a PhD candidate in the Classics Department at NYU, and a brilliant young scholar and rising academic star who studies ancient medicine. Earlier this summer, when he was about three months away from his dissertation defense date, he had a seizure and was taken to the hospital where it was discovered that he has brain cancer. All of this occurred not long after his and Kimmie's first anniversary. It is a difficult situation to be sure, but both Calloway and Kimmie have been and continue to be incredibly brave and supportive of each other, and if we can help them even a little with basic things as they navigate through the next few months, it could make a huge difference for them.

One last thing: Calloway and Kimmie have no idea that we have started this fund, and - if we can keep it a secret! - we are planning to reveal it to them once we’ve hit our goal. When giving your donation, you will have the option of providing your name or giving anonymously - the decision is yours. We have set what we believe is a modest goal for this campaign, but hopefully, with your help (and if we all spread the word!), we can lend Kimmie and Calloway even more substantial support.

UPDATE, 8.26.16:

Dear All,

We are thrilled – though not surprised – by the outpouring of support for Calloway and Kimmie. The generous contributions of friends and family, near and far, have all helped us to surpass our stated goal of $5,000 in under 24 hours – truly remarkable, and a testament to the concern and love we all bear for our friends. We are thrilled and surprised by how swiftly our initial fundraising goal was reached, and our feeling now is that if we reached this goal in a single day, we should leave the fund open for a few more days for people who have not yet had the opportunity to contribute. We will see how it goes, but our plan is to reveal the surprise to Kimmie and Calloway around the middle of the week or when we reach $10,000 - a goal that would have seemed far-fetched a day ago but now seems almost within reach - perhaps a few days away!

What you all have done already is AMAZING; your contributions will greatly reduce the burdens and stress Kimmie and Calloway are facing. Our new goal is an informal one, and perhaps ambitious, but if you can continue to forward this message throughout the community, we would be immensely grateful. To everyone who has already helped – many, many thanks! To everyone else: if you haven't yet had a chance to contribute, every little donation helps! --The donations we've already received are a dramatic demonstration of that!

Thank you all for your kind and generous support in this effort!