The Most Important Post I Will Make This Year

If you can read this without it absolutely breaking your heart, you're a better person than I am. But the bottom line is that somebody really needs all the help she and her family can get, and I aim to do my part.

Kari Anne Roy is a mom and blogger and writer whose blog, Haiku Mama, inspired her first book. I've met Kari only once, when she was doing some research for a possible comics-related book, but she's on an email list/community for Austin moms with my wife, and she feels like a friend of the family.

She and her family have had much more than their fair share of troubles lately. Their baby boy, Isaac ("Ike" for short), was a troubled pregnancy, and after all of the stress and worry, the Roys got what seemed like a miracle. Ike was delivered prematurely, but he survived, and was getting stronger, and came home.

But he's had health issues, and just recently they took a turn for the worse, landing Ike back in the hospital. On top of that, thanks to the economy, Kari's husband recently lost his job, which means that their health insurance (through COBRA) is immensely expensive.

What they really need is a ton of good luck, but I can't help with that. They also need moral support, and they're getting tons of that through the Austin Mamas List. I can help a little with that. But what they're really gonna need, with this crisis sort of taking over their life, is money to help them get through.

The Austin Mamas are working on bake sales, silent auctions, etc. Rogues Gallery will definitely be donating comics and games for any silent auctions. But I'd like to do more. I'd love to be able to do a small auction of signed comics/graphic novels, etc. at the store, with all of the money going to the Roys. The comics industry has always been amazing about rallying around its own, and I'm reluctant to keep asking folks to give more, but if any of my comics-creating friends reading this would be willing to donate some original art, a sketch, a signed comic or something of that nature for a charity auction, I sure would appreciate it. You can drop me an email at pants.randy@gmail.com.

You can see more about all this at http://www.ikeasaurus.com/