Michelle Butler Hallett's Disability Emergency

Hi, I'm Christine and I'm raising money for my dear friend Michelle Butler Hallett who needs a little breathing room to recover from her latest bout with ankylosing spondylitis, an autoimmune disorder that affects her mobility and causes chronic pain.

When someone has a drastic crisis, we all know what to do - we spring into action and cover that short-term gap with financial and hands-on support.

But when someone has a long-term, ongoing condition - especially a variable, unpredictable, chronic condition like AS - we all want to be supportive but we often don't know when or how to help.

Well, my friends, NOW is the time to help and your financial donation will make a huge difference in Michelle's quality of life and her current recovery process.

While it would be amazing for someone to swoop in and cover our whole financial goal, the truth is that we will meet this goal the way our community always does things - everyone doing what they can, when they can.

Every amount makes a difference and if you can't raise funds right now now, please raise awareness by sharing this campaign.

About Michelle:

Michelle Butler Hallett is a an award-winning, critically acclaimed novelist and writing teacher dedicated to her arts practice.

She’s also quite ill.

Michelle suffers from an aggressive form of the autoimmune disease ankylosing spondylitis, AS for short. The AS has, over the years, robbed Michelle of mobility and stamina and left her with intractable chronic pain. Throughout all this, Michelle worked full-time jobs and part-time gigs while raising two children with her husband, writing novels, and teaching workshops.

Now, Michelle is in real trouble.

A recent worsening of the AS has left Michelle unable to work. Bills are piling up, creditors are calling, and much-needed household repairs — two appliances and a collapsed deck — are far out of reach. Further delays in accessing a new medication earlier this year left Michelle with an even heavier burden of sickness and disability. It’s still too early to tell if the new medication is helping, and it’s still far too early for Michelle to return to work.

Michelle has already turned to emergency arts funding, and she’s taken on more debt.

Michelle’s husband, David Hallett, is precariously employed at Memorial University. That means much less pay than tenure-tracked professors and no job security. David must reapply every few terms, with no guarantee of continued employment, and David’s current contract ends next week.

Michelle desperately needs to pay some of her bills so she can get the mental space to focus on recovery.

Please help if you can.