Critical Help for Carol Sanford

Carol Sanford has been an inspirational catalyst and guide, helping change agents and businesses around the world realize their aspirations to make a difference. Now she needs our help. Last fall, Carol learned that the cause of a suite of mysterious symptoms she’d been dealing with was amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease)—an inexorably debilitating, ultimately fatal disease. Each month brings changing and expanding needs for multi-specialist medical attention, home retrofitting, access to 24-hour caregivers, special transportation for care and increasingly sophisticated adaptive technologies and equipment to enable basic life functions such as eating, breathing, sleeping and managing bodily functions, much of which is not covered by insurance.

After absorbing rising costs for the six months since her diagnosis, Carol is now facing an escalation in the level of care required, and the medical and in-home care expenses facing her are staggering. Based on average patient experience, estimated out-of-pocket care expenses together with basic living costs over the next 12 months, will be close to $500,000, far beyond her personal and business reserves combined. Even more emotionally difficult for Carol than her own prospect is her distress over how these skyrocketing expenses will impact her loved ones. Carol has built a successful family business that supports two other households in addition to her own—those of her daughter Tamara and her son Mark. Tamara and Mark are now tasked with managing the eventual closure of the business that employs them, while also directly managing Carol’s end-of-life care alongside their own unfolding grief process.

There is no way to know how long Carol will live, and she is committed to continuing to work as long as she physically can, but the uncertainty and mounting financial stress are further undermining her health. This is why, as her friends and colleagues we are working now to raise an initial $250,000 to help ensure she gets the care she needs and the peace of mind to prepare and plan for what’s coming.

Carol is one of the most vital and caring people I know. Her podcasts, workshops, conferences and six, soon seven, books continue to enable people to develop the capacity they need to meet and exceed their commitments as increasingly effective change agents. In reflecting on these powerful ripples that have moved out from Carol’s life and work, we invite all whose lives have been touched by Carol to envision and manifest a wave of support moving back in her direction, giving her the stability and nourishment that she needs to focus her energy on what lies ahead: making her final contributions in this life while making a conscious transition to what lies beyond.

Carol’s incredible capacity for caring and giving has been a hallmark of her life. On behalf of all of us who love her, thank you in advance for anything that you can contribute to support Carol and her family through this challenging time.