Help Tara DeFrancisco with medical costs

"The pain was so bad, I was sure it was going to just immediately kill me. But somehow here I still am.”

Tara said this about the disc that burst in her spine last week, paralysing her – the one that now has her hospitalised (fresh out of surgery and in recovery as I type), has astonished her doctors, and has her facing at least tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills. AT LEAST. We simply don't know the cost yet, but it's gonna be big.

Tara is excellent. One of the good ones. A great-hearted force of nature who has poured an impossible amount of love and good into the world – as an improviser, a teacher and a human. And she's ill. Very, very ill. And she’s been ill for an awfully long time. She’s had serious heart failure along with a series of ruptured discs. The former condition means it’s almost impossible to properly treat the latter.

For months now, she's been in constant chronic pain, unable to stand or sit properly. For years her doctors have found it hard to understand how she keeps on. But keep on she does.

Tara’s medical insurance disappeared in March. As anyone familiar with the American health system knows, this is a terrifying situation to be in. Today she faced terrifying surgery that could help correct or improve it. She's brave. Brave as hell. But the cost...

Here’s where you can help. If you’re lucky enough to know Tara, or if you’ve ever been taught by her or seen her perform, or if you know someone who knows her, or even if you are just somebody who thinks that no-one deserves this kind of financial stress on top of life-threatening illness and surgery, please give what you can to this appeal. Give whatever you can afford. Or have a collection at work. Or turn your next improv show into a fundraiser. Or something else... But let's help.

NB The target on this fundraiser is below what will be needed, but I wanted to be realistic AND aspirational, somehow... I chose GoGetFunding as any funds that are raised will be donated, whether we fall short of the target, or surpass it. LET'S SURPASS IT!

(OH! And when you make your donation, also share a memory of you and Tara.)