Well Demo. Zero movement on Indiegogo. So that was a flop.
No support, no interest. 5 people just can't do it alone.
Sigh!
Daveman: I think that an extraordinarily brave pioneering effort was made!
As ***many*** (but not all!) fundraisers find ( in my 1,378 years experience), funds MUST be raised internally.
If 3 out of 4 doctors don't understand POIS, how are we supposed to achieve results in the *****general***** population? They are clueless.
Unfortunately, our message to non-POISers: we don't have hundreds of cuddly little POIS babies dying of our disease daily in Biafra! But give anyway even though you're sure this is psychological!
But we learned mightily and we now move on. "That which does not kill us makes us stronger" - Nietzsche
We have already achieved a miraculous 1/3 goal amongst a group of sufferers who never met each other!
DAVEMAN - - AND ALL POISERS: Thank you!!!!
Stay tuned. There are more miracles ahead!
Yep, that´s true. Our hardest burden is the invisibility of the condition. I think we only can be understood by the rest of the people if we are willing to explain it -whenever, wherever- by ourselves. I have done it several times by now. It cost me the first times, but now I am openly discussing the effects and the fact that is a chronic condition with the people I care about - that are the ones to seem to care about me- My parents donated 70$, my "mother-in-law" donated 60$ and I donated another 25$ -pledged another 75$-. If everyone is willing to do this- share our "problem" with the inner circle- we could raise all of our objective in less than a year!
Demo wrote:
"Stay tuned. There are more miracles ahead!"Great and true words, Demo!!!
You're all really in the middle of a miracle -- and it's not only reflected in raising $11,862!!!
You men have
united -- you've morphed into a group that really supports each other! That's a major miracle!!!! I remember when this was not the situation.
And Observer, you are at the top of the list for courage and fortitude!! You've gone public
and have done whatever you can to raise funds!!! No one knows yet what the REAL result of your efforts will be (the El Mundo story, the indiegogo campaign, the ABC Australia TV piece). There will be a cumulative effect -- you'll see!
I wish the cloud of shame surrounding POIS could somehow disappear. POIS is just NOT shame-worthy! When I've told non-medical friends about POIS, they're always (1) surprised because they've never heard of POIS, and (2) sympathetic, saying something like, "Those poor men -- how awful for them!" One close male friend of ours cannot imagine celibacy as a consideration, despite understanding the misery that POIS induces!!
Never -- not once -- have I heard, "Yuck! That's disgusting! They should be ashamed of themselves." Not even close!
So -- you're all in the middle of a miracle! It's just going to take continuing effort on everyone's part to keep it going --
like all miracles. Stef
