Supporting Jay Lake
I'm late to post about these projects, so I'm guessing that most of y'all know about them by now, but just in case:
Sf author Jay Lake has had cancer for a while now. He keeps going through treatments, but the cancer keeps coming back. The outlook at this point is not good.
There's a fundraiser to cover the costs of a procedure that could possibly help: sequencing Jay's genome to look for possible alternative treatment paths. There's a chance this could save Jay's life. Only a small chance, but a chance.
The fundraiser has blown past its original goal in a very short time, resulting in a bunch of sf writers following through on their pledges to do various whimsical things (see fundraiser page for details and links), but there are still plenty of stretch goals yet to be achieved. As the page says:
We set the goal at the bare minimum to get Jay this chance for treatment, but there are tons of other expenses not covered by his medical insurance.
[...]
In the event that Jay's costs are less than expected, or that funds are raised in excess of his costs, those funds will be used to support a much-needed leave of absence for Jay, who has worked steadily through all of his treatment, so that his body has the best possible chance of recovery, and so that he can spend time with his family.
Meanwhile, there's another Jay-related fundraising project, this one to help fund a documentary about Jay and his daughter Bronwyn. This, too, has swiftly swept past its original funding goal, and is now looking to meet stretch goals.
I think they're both worthy projects (and I donated to both), but obviously if you're picking just one to support, I'd recommend the one that has a chance of helping keep Jay alive.