Dear Friends of North and Stef

Dear Friends of North and Stef;

North's and Stef's odyssey provides a renewed sense of courage and hope for all of us who know them. The strength and courage that sustains them and the love shining through their triumphs and disappointments are epic in scope.

Their strength and faith may not be equaled in many of our lifetimes, and God only knows how long North will be with us. So in response to Stef's appeal below for some crucial "day-to-day" help, and as one of North's physicians, I'm asking their friends to help celebrate North's life in another way too (if you are able) by sending along a cash donation.

My appeal is totally unsolicited by North and Stef, and sent without asking for their approval, so I earnestly hope this appeal will not embarrass them.

Along with my donation, I'm also requesting a favor. I would like to come visit with my wife, Anneli, so she can experience the living miracle that has now come home to roost in their living room--An exquisite, pure white dove whose beauty shines forth like the love that moves the sun and other stars. Wow! You really have to see this to believe it! A nurse who I asked to consult with North last week said to me, "Doctor, this is the most profound spiritual presence I have ever encountered."

So, in conclusion, with this note, I am requesting North and Stef to forward this e-mail to everyone who receives their blogs or who is on one or another of their e-mail lists. At the very least we can all pray together for these two warm, wonderful souls.

Sincerely,

Edward A. Taub, M.D.

In a message dated 8/6/2006, stefswink@cox.net writes:

Dearest friends,

Below you will find an e-mail I sent to a group of local friends. I was strongly encouraged to put it on the blog.

E-Mail - I need help.

I know all of you want to help in some way and I so appreciate the calls and e-mails offering to assist us. I/we need it.

I took the liberty of scanning my e-mail list rather quickly and added to this list those of you who are either close by or who I know maybe don’t work full time. Please don’t feel pressured by this request e-mail.

Truth is I just don’t have the time, energy, desire or even patience to do the simplest of things other than be near North and help him walk and eat and get ready to go to his treatments. Obviously I have to do all the bookkeeping and manage the paperwork of his care and all that, but honestly, even trying to figure out what I need and asking for help and then giving any direction to the task is a challenge. Even with North’s mom here the list seems to grow longer as North gets weaker. She would very much rather not drive here and so her help is limited to helping at home, which is really great, but I think we still need help with some cleaning and laundry, etc.

Anyway, North is still determined to continue getting his treatments and gain back his strength. I want nothing more than to support him in his desires. But we are at the point where we need men (or very strong women) to take him to the hospital. North requested this today when he nearly fell getting into the car.

So… can any or some of you help me? Since Bruce is coordinating rides and some meals, perhaps someone else can help coordinate these other things.

Here is a brainstorming list of things on my mind…

Actually, I will take a list complied with the help of Leslie and my sis Kris. Here goes…

Ways to Help

Picking up prescriptions and other medicinal needs at the drug store

Grocery shopping on a somewhat regular schedule. (North prefers organic whenever possible.)

Things to help with at HOME

• Vacuum
• Trash out
• Walk Barney
• Clean kitchen, bathrooms
• Do laundry
• Sit/read/visit with North
• Change birdcage, food, water
• Good cooks, use what they have?
• North likes soups, smoothies, pasta, veggies, nothing dry
• Organic when possible, no grapefruit
• Please encourage Stef to go for a walk or take a break while you’re here.

-

Another thing I would LOVE some help with is finding someone who knows computers (MACS) to come here and help remove an area of stress and frustration for us both. I need help to reset up North’s computer (he took it all apart for my birthday slideshow), add memory to my mac and basically make our systems link (network?) work better, faster, smoother. I have had it with all these wires and would love to go wireless (have no idea what this costs).

PLUS North’s strong desire and goal for ages has been to get our new website and blog up. He worked so hard on it before the latest turn and I want SO MUCH to be able to give that to him – his goal realized, his hard work materialized and live and real and working!!!!

So does anyone know a great MAC person who can handle a PC as well (I need help transferring y data from an old PC laptop to this mac), who can just really take initiative to get us set up without it taking a lot of time and energy out of either of us? Is this even possible?

Anyway, there it all is. It is hard to do this but the severity of our situation takes way a lot of reservations for me. People are offering to help.. We need it. SO there it is.

LOVE LOVE LOVE and THANKS,

Stef