None of my doctors are online to make comments, nor are they legally able to put anything public about their patients.. I was able to get Doctor Roy Ashcroft to make a statement on my condition but he cannot legally go into details, and if you look on both my Facebook page, and "savingcaptaincrunch" page, is a complete diagnosis on my condition including diagram of my spine, and how this condition is deteriorating the nerves that control my hands...
People just want to make sure it is you requesting the money and not a scammer. You just need to convince people that you are you and then HN/reddit will be happy to help. Hope you get well!
Mark Abramov said the following on the Facebook page you linked. I hope John Draper follows this advice (and that the surgery goes well):
"Captain, it would be great if you connected your known web identity (webcrunchers.com) with your identity on facebook (this account) and/or the donation website. Put a link on the sidebar or something because some people get suspicious.
Judging by the people listed in the friends list in the Facebook page, the Facebook account seems genuine to me, but you don't have to take my word for it.
Christine owns the domain, she setup the domain and web site, and her loyal supporters have done a great job, Bless her heart for this amazing support. She is also publisher of Technorazzi, also Gingerbread TV, and was one of the en2go officers.
What do you need for verification? Do you want to talk to my surgeon? Usually, they don't like to talk about their patients unless you are next of kin. I did ask him to mention what the condition is, and more details on my condition is outlined in "savingcaptaincrunch.com"
I'm fully aware that webcrunchers and wiki have no references, but that should be fixed by tonight.
I'm barely able to type (have to use my thumbs). I got stacks of mail I haven't even read, but hope you understand my limitations.
Usually (at least on reddit IAmA, where I'm a mod), verification is done by the poster uploading a picture of himself holding up a sign with the current date and something like "I'm Captain Crunch". If you want to do an IAmA there, I'd be happy to verify it (and, consequently, everything else), and it might get you some more donations...
>What do you need for verification? Do you want to talk to my surgeon?
I think that's the opposite of what people want: it's a matter of authentication -- how do we know the person that put up the website is forwarding the money to the real John Draper? Most people would trust you, if they could verify it's really you. You could put a link to this fundraiser on your website or myspace, or make a youtube video saying it's a real fundraiser, and that would be enough to convince people. How it is now isn't enough to convince people that the money really is going to you.
I challenge you to rebuff my claims. You contact me personally, I will be happy to give you the name of the doctor's physical therapists, and any and all medical staff that can substantiate my claim. And I find it totally offensive to say that people don't believe me. I'm have anything else to say, I'll leave you to judge based on what you can find out on your own.
FYI - I made the appropriate changes to webcrunchers.com like I said I would. The problem has been my hosting company who is hosting Webcrunchers was out of town on a mission, and had left before my volunteers put up the fundraiser site.
Early on, it was mentioned that this had to be done. Somehow, it fell into the cracks, next time, I'll pay more attention to such details.
You all please have to understand, that I'm going through tremendous amount of pain, and none of the pain medications work, and now I'm having to have stellar ganglon nerve root blocks, which kills the nerves, but only for certain periods of time. I'm told by the doctor, thereby increase this frequency, it may end my problem. I'm now having them three times a week. And I do want to say this, when you have a shot in the front of your neck with a needle going all the way back to the root nerve, it is a very painful experience.
But another doctor, insists I have surgery right away. I see said surgeon on the ninth, to find out what this is going to cost me above and beyond that Medicare can pay, and whatever is left over, I'll send back. I know who you are, I'll contact each and everyone of you individually, to ask if you want me to return what you paid. simple as that. And nice and fair. Again I want to thank everybody who donated, for your information, I am almost but not quite 2/3rd the way done to the goal of $10,000.
Something on the person's main page directly acknowledging the scenario would be more useful - I wasn't the only one who wasn't sure about this. I thought wikipedia might have some update on the situation but there's nothing there. FWIW, just updating the site(s) would have been enough - if it's really that hard to type, that was a lot of typing to do! :/
It is common for celebrities to be impersonated on Twitter, and this is not a verified account.
John Draper is a security expert. His MySpace page has a video of him talking about how to avoid getting scammed online. Surely he understands the need to establish his identity before asking for money online. Yet, I don't see any mention of this situation on his website.
en2go web site was shut down months ago. The investors shut down the company in July. So yes, en2go is en2gone.
The reason why I haven't been able to put the link on my website, has been due to my disability, and huge amounts of response I'm having to answer.
My webmaster, maintaining Webcrunchers.com is going to be putting up the links. Plus, since I have not gone through my wiki entry, I have not been able to make any additions to that as well. In actuality, other people have put up this wiki, with my blessing of course. Since I just located and found my webmaster, we're going to make these corrections as soon as possible.
There's a lot going on my life right now, in spending a lot of time doing research on my condition, finding and interviewing doctors, I found someone who I trust who is willing to perform open surgery on my neck.
However, there are other institutes out there that do non-invasive surgery using endoscopic treatments. I have interviewed and looked into one local outfit, and they charge $25,000 for the treatment, but unfortunately after looking at my MRI, denied my request for treatment due to the severity of my condition. I have several others I am investigating, and I have to be careful not to raise more money than I need, and if I exceed that, I have to return it.
Anyway, I hope that my webmaster will find the time to go in and fix it tonight.
NOTE: This is a repeat on what I said above, I tried to edit it because Mac Speech had some errors I missed. The owners of hacker news should be notified I updated, after editing, the update button was presented, I pressed it, it returned back to editing, did it again, and it still didn't seem to accept it, so I submitted a revised message.
Actually, that was one of the physical therapists treatments. But I don't hang upside down, use a pulley with a strap around my neck, going up over the doorway, with a water bag for weight. Recommended weight: 25 pounds. It feels pretty good, but it doesn't get rid of the pain in my hands. I have very little muscle control and my fingers right now, this nerve has to be released soon, or I'll lose all muscle control in my fingers.
en2go web site was shut down months ago. The investors shut down the company in July. So yes, en2go is en2gone.
The reason why I haven't been able to put the link on my website, has been due to my disability, and huge amounts of response I'm having to answer.
My webmaster, maintaining Webcrunchers.com is going to be putting up the links. Plus, since I have not gone through my wiki entry, I have not been able to make any additions to that as well. In actuality, other people have put up this wiki, with my blessing of course. Since I just located and found my webmaster, we're going to make these corrections as soon as possible.
There's a lot going on my life right now, in spending a lot of time doing research on my condition, finding and interviewing doctors, I found someone who I trust who is willing to perform open surgery on my neck.
However, there are other institutes out there that do non-invasive surgery using endoscopic treatments. I have interviewed and looked into one local outfit, and they charge $25,000 for the treatment, but unfortunately after looking at my MRI, denied my request for treatment due to the severity of my condition. I have several others I am investigating, and I have to be careful not to raise more money than I need, and if I exceed that, I have to return it.
Anyway, I hope that my webmaster will find the time to go in and fix it tonight.
Now I have to get back answering mail, I have a lot of mail to catch up on.
Suggestion: donate any excess money to a well-regarded charity, perhaps one associated with your condition. I'm sure most people donating will be as willing, if not more willing, to donate if you tell them this up front.
If I receive more money than needed. I will contact each and every donor, and asked them if they want it returned. Simple as that. It's only fair. I know Who you are. I know much you donated, and will happily pay that back if it's not needed.
The most out-of-pocket expense I have is post surgery care or, other costs not covered by Medicare. I will say this, Medicare does not cover everything. I can assure you that. You'd be surprised at how many clinics are not covered by Medicare. And I've heard nothing about Obama care, even if that exists.
This is in my things to do - my webmaster has been unavailable, so seeking details to do it myself. I appreciate you pointing this out. Wiki is also on my list. I'm already posting a lot of stuff on my facebook page. But don't want to come across as "Self Serving". I'm also unsure of the $10k cap. If I find another laser surgery outfit, and they charge more, how would my donors feel.
There is already a paragraph towards the bottom that discusses how the money will be used. It could also say that you are still researching treatment options. $10,000 is an optimistic estimate for what it will cost to save your arms, and you're collecting up to $30,000 which will help you to get the best medical care possible. Any money not spent on medical care will be returned.
Just throwing out an idea. I've never run a charity campaign and don't know what works. Just make sure to get those links on webcrunchers so everyone knows that it's really you who's asking for help and not some scammer. ;-)
Yes, that's absolutely right. Plus, if I am accepted for endoscopic surgery, I may have to increase the cap. Right now, I am not even sure that I qualify as a candidate for this procedure, and one of my surgeons is advising against it while another one says to give it a go.
I will say this, it is my body, I'm going to do the best I can to make sure I get the best possible treatment, and not turn down endoscopic surgery, even though it is $25,000.
I will say this, so far endoscopic surgery costs is about $14,000 per disc, plus $7500 for each additional disk.
You will note that I am only asking for $10,000. Making sure I don't ask for more than I should. This figure was discussed between me and my advisers, and we think it's a fair goal to try to reach.
Finally contacted my webmaster, but he's out all day, and plans to get back tonight... So lets see here...
1) Link from WebCrunchers to my Facebook page
2) Link from Webcrunchers to "savingcaptaincrunch" site
3) Make changes to my WIKI with links to all 3 of these sites, plus a statement on my current health. Is there anything else I should do? I'm trying to distance myself from all this promotion so's not to appear "Self Serving".
It's fixed now. It was on my things to do, the person hosting my site was out of town, and had left long before I had to put up three donation website.
EDIT: On inspection, the stuff from early October and back seems pretty OK. I'm more inclined to believe this now.