Gravity is a Helluvva Boss Battle...

Hi, I'm Bennie, and I've started this fundraiser for my longtime friend Gideon Hoss. Years ago, he and I roomed in a crazy household of furries in a haunted farmhouse in PA, but this story is far more pressing…

On his way down to FWA this year, Gideon stayed over with a friend, and they both went out for a jog. Unfortunately, gravity seems to work differently in North Carolina, and Gideon tripped and hit the pavement hard. The impact broke his shoulder and landed him in the ER. Emergency orthopedic surgery followed soon after to install a plate and 10 screws that now hold his shoulder together. (And this is why Gideon usually sticks to walking!)

Gideon is looking at an outstanding medical bill of $21,500 (reduced down from nearly $60,000 by the hospital due to financial hardship.) The injury also forced him to miss FWA, and as an active and prolific artist in the fandom since the early 2000s, cons are his income bread-and-butter. When you add these to some earlier, unrelated, surprise medical bills that depleted his savings, you can see that this is a triple-weight financial hit.

I've always admired that Gideon has been able to make a living out of doing art. That's not an easy life in the US, and he's been able to pull it off up to now.

But this just seems unfair to have so much stack up at such a nasty time: the shoulder recovery is going to slow down his ability to pay his bills with his art. And this is all just the surgery; we haven't gotten to physical therapy yet!

Anything you can do to help Gideon out would be greatly appreciated. He's a good hoss and a dollar would go a long way to helping him.