Support Corey Askins' Battle and Recovery

Hi, I’m Zoi. I’m helping raise money for my dad, Corey Askins. He has been battling a bone infection in his foot for months which has now resulted in plans for amputation. My dad is the sole provider to my mom and my two sisters. Corey is a film industry professional of 30+ years. For those who do not understand the “gig” lifestyle of the movie/tv industry, it means you do not have a 9-5 365 days a year. This industry is freelance for those of us “on-production.” Due to the ongoing work slowdown as a result of the 2023 WGA and DGA strikes, my dad has been finding work further and farther between. In addition, he has been in and out of the hospital for the last two months. there have been moments of extreme disorientation and bad reactions to medicine. Over the last 8 weeks, my dad has been on IV antibiotics which have been administered at home by my mom. Corey has not been able to put pressure on his foot and has had limited mobility resulting in a couple of falls, a lot of down time, and low morale. Overall, his infection has come to a lull, but it is not improving. His latest MRI results were not as promising as we had hoped. He will be seeing a foot & ankle specialist, an infectious disease specialist, and surgeons over the coming weeks/months. This process is lengthy, tedious, and unfortunately detrimental to my parent’s finances.

My family is based in Oklahoma where there are not many resources for this type of medical/financial burden. There are also minimal financial assistance resources within the Motion Picture Industry in California nor Oklahoma to aid my dad with this lengthy financial and medical crisis. We have researched and tapped into retirement and financial aid programs within the union and the state of Oklahoma.

We are asking for help to keep my family afloat while my dad goes through this process of keeping this infection at bay until surgery can happen. He will need time to recover, to go to physical therapy, and be fitted for a prosthetic before he can return to work.

Please read the below words from a close friend and colleague, Mark Webb:

This industry has provided for one another during times of crisis , be it employment, advice and even financial assistance, we have always been there for one another.

I am writing this on behalf of a fellow Transportation professional who is engaged in a struggle that not many of us have much experience in.

Forget for a moment Covid, or work stoppages, pending strikes or anything like that. A fellow Transportation professional who I've worked for and with for years is facing the unimaginable, the loss of a limb due to a surgical intervention and amputation. Because of an infection in his foot that has been ongoing for years, doctors have recently advised that the only possible way to stave off the further infection is to remove his leg.

Now I'm not going to pretend for a minute that I have any idea what he feels at this moment, nor what his future holds or anything of the sort. The words "mentally crippling" come to mind for someone who is active and is now faced with losing a leg.

He has not been able to work, obviously with his condition, there is no future work at the moment, to say bills are mounting up is the understatement of the world, and also faced with losing motion Picture insurance and the cost of moving to self-pay cobra will be substantial.

This does not just affect Corey Askins, this affects his wife, his children, his balances due and anything he'll owe going forward. This simply affects his life as he knows it. While it could not happen at a worse time, not only for Corey but for many of us in the industry who have not worked and might not be able to offer any financial support at the time.

This sheer stress of everything mounting up on him, can't do anything for his current condition, my guess is it does nothing but worsen. On a page where some 90,000 industry people reside, discuss industry problems, give accolades, lift up the achievers and even support our fallen. We are a ridiculously unique group of people.

So here I am asking my fellow industry members to help us help him. I've alerted Corey and his family of my intentions, this fund will be controlled by his adult daughter (Also an industry professional) in making sure that the needs of him, his wife & children are met for the time being. Corey and family currently live in Oklahoma so all medical care and opinions are being facilitated there.

Whatever you can offer, be it words of support, experience or $10-$20 dollars will lessen the daily impact of co-pays, medications, food, utilities or daily needs. He has to be driven an hour from his home for medical care a couple times a week, his MRI last week revealed the worst news. Not one of us wish to be here, we wouldn't want this for our worst enemies but here we are and I'm reaching out to the only people I know who can make a difference.

As always, you people are the best, we're graced to spend our work hours, days and weeks in the company of greatness.

And we hope that all of you are making it through tough times !!

Thank you so much for your time. ❤️