Posted by Margi (161.184.81.207) on January 09, 2002 at 12:55:30:
I just want to say something about Elaine. Elaine came to us the second year we were in business here. She came to us in pain, confused and scared. She'd already endured decades of daily cluster pain by the time she'd found us. She didn't come to us whining or complaining about her pain. She came and offered support to others, because she understood what we all go through as sufferers and supporters. Then, shortly after we had welcomed her, we found a post from her daughter Heather that Elaine had collapsed the night before. She apparently had suffered an aneurysm and we weren't sure if she was going to make it. I think this is when ch.com REALLY became a site of incredible support. We ALL felt her and her family's pain. Drummer especially came to Elaine's rescue after that and they became very close friends. They worked together to find Elaine a good doc and she started a course of treatment to control her pain. Elaine did get better and she took it upon herself to initiate the first EVER clusterhead meeting. She and a group of clusterheads drove or flew to Drummer's house, from all over the United States to make history. To our knowledge, this is the first time clusterheads have ever met each other as a group. We were all very excited for them, and the idea of a bigger meeting (convention) was born.
Elaine continued her journey and drove to Kansas to meet DJ - the guy who made this community possible. They remain very good friends. Keep in mind here, that Elaine is STILL a chronic clusterhead. She wasn't feeling very good on this trip but she never complained about it, just kept going. It was when she arrived back home in Georgia that they discovered her lung and breast cancer. Surgery was quickly planned and we all anxiously awaited Heather's post as to the outcome. Elaine suffered a stroke in that operation. For a few days surrounding that time, ch.com virtually shut down. The only talk was of how Elaine was doing. This is the Elaine that also initiated our ch.com classroom and was our Mrs. Holloman. She has always made us laugh with those classes. She knows we need to laugh, to get through the pain we each feel here.
Elaine survived that stroke and climbed back up and continued to be a big support to many people here. Sure, she's made mistakes along the way, we all have. But her strong, supportive spirit remains. And now I hear that there is a move afoot to drive Elaine AWAY from ch.com. There are a couple of individuals who apparently are orchestrating that plan. Individuals who were NOT here in those early days, yet for some reason feel that she doesn't belong here. What the heck is up with that? I don't need to mention names, you know who you are. Whether this "move" is intentional or not, the perceived feeling is there as a direct result of your actions. I think you need to get over yourselves and put your jealousy aside.
I'm sorry, Elaine, if this embarasses you to tell your story. But I will NOT stand by and watch one of the biggest feeling people I know (uh, I'm talking about YOU, TS) be driven away from a community that you have been instrumental in creating. This is just a small clip of Elaine's story - she has done many many good deeds behind the scenes without any recognition or praise for it.
There is no need to respond to this post unless you want to post your support for Elaine. To those of you with a guilty conscience, I repeat: no need to respond to this post. This is a public forum. You have no right to make anyone feel unwelcome here. DJ is the only one who can forbid someone access here. And unless you see his reflection in your mirror, you had best reconsider your actions.