Pat Donegan needs our help

I am Elaine Martin, a friend of Patricia Donegan, who I know through our Buddhist community in Chicago. A small group of Pat's friends and I are raising funds for her. As many know, Pat is a noted Haiku poet, author and translator. She is in an urgent situation right now. Pat was living independently in her own apartment, but In September 2022, she suffered a severe reaction to a new medication that affected her swallowing ability. This condition is known as dysphagia. In Pat's case, it greatly interferes with her ability to eat, leaving her in a frequent state of coughing, gasping for breath and anxiety. She is in a rehabilitation facility where they determined that Pat's return to independent living is no longer possible.

The urgent need is to raise enough money to pay her rent and bills for at least six months. The donated funds will pay her medical bills, rent and utilities on her current apartment (until her next living situation is determined), cell phone, some credit card debt and miscellaneous bills. Other expenses are for hiring appropriate services to clear and move apartment furnishings and store and disseminate Pat's treasure of unpublished work. One of Pat's local care team of friends is her designated POA for health and finances and will be paying Pat's bills and will oversee and help Pat manage her healthcare decisions.

Treasure trove

A gold mine of Patricia’s unpublished haiku poems, plays and research is housed in her apartment. It will take time to sort and organize these valuable writings, plus secure appropriate housing for Patricia.

Pat returned to Chicago years ago to care for her aging parents. Her mother died in 2012, and her father died around 2017. Since then, she has been living alone, working on completing her current book and relying on her savings. When the pandemic conditions opened up, Pat secured a job with a frame shop for supplemental income to her social security. She decided to quit about the time that the shop closed due to the physical strain of the work. Now at age 77, her social security is not sufficient to sustain her, even though she's been living in what's "affordable housing" in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. While here, Pat has remained committed to her root teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the Buddha, Shambhala dharma, and the local sangha.

As a very warm and generous person, Patricia’s life has been filled with service to others. After graduating college, she worked in the Peace Corps in Korea. For ten years, she was a faculty member of East-West poetics at Naropa University under Allen Ginsberg and Chögyam Trungpa, a student of Japanese haiku master Seishi Yamaguchi, and a Fulbright scholar to Japan. She was a meditation teacher, the poetry editor for Kyoto Journal, and a member of the Haiku Society of America. Her haiku works include Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart, Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master (co-translated with Yoshie Ishibashi), and Haiku: Asian Arts for Creative Kids. Her poetry collections include Without Warning, Bone Poems, and Hot Haiku.

Please be generous with your financial support so we can help Pat get through this very difficult time