So much has happened since the day I first communicated with Veronica De La Cruz. May 13, 2009 seems like yesterday and like a million years ago. As of today, it’s been over five months since Eric De La Cruz died and health care reform legislation is as close as it’s ever been. I thought this would be a good time to tell how I became involved in this amazing campaign of the heart.
I had peripherally seen my Twitter friend @Heykim tweeting about helping someone who needed a heart transplant and also mentioning a sister. I wasn’t sure what the deal was so I moved on to other Twitter items (probably blipping, chatting, tech talk, or retweeting something juicy).
A while later, another Twitter friend, @SashaKane, tweeted that someone needed help with a blog site to support getting a heart transplant for their brother. I wasn’t following Veronica De la Cruz on Twitter and didn’t really know of her from her CNN or TV Guide, but I asked Veronica, “Can I help?”
Minutes later, Veronica and I chatted via IM and she emailed me info about her brother, Eric De La Cruz. Eric was suffering from a severe heart condition and was in desperate need of a heart transplant. Veronica was seeking help to build an information and fundraising blog site and support to get insurance coverage in California for Eric. Time was running out.
One of the pictures she emailed me was of her holding her brother’s hand as children. Veronica mentioned the photo and said that just as she held his hand in the photo, she was not going to let go until she did everything she could do to save his life. That’s when I knew I was going to stick with it and do what I could to help.
In the hours and days that followed, the campaign to save Eric’s life rapidly grew, hundreds of heroes and a few doubters appeared, and the fundraising efforts skyrocketed. I’ll cover my view on those events in upcoming blog posts here. I briefly mention them in an interview with WhatGives at BlogWorld Expo 2009.
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