Month: February 2010

Hollis Hawthorne A Year Later

Tanja Barnes

A year ago this week my friend Hollis Hawthorne fell into a coma as a result of a motorcycle accident she suffered in India. Her progress has been slow but steady and both her friends and her family have been blogging about it and documenting every milestone.

For instance, recently her friends blogged as of the beginning of this year, she’s been singing and humming to songs she listens to on her iPod.
In the blog that Holli’s mom keeps she reported that yesterday Hollis was being evaluated to see if she is a candidate for the Shepherd Center of Atlanta, one of the top rehabilitation hospitals in the nation, specializing in medical treatment, research and rehabilitation for people with spinal cord injury or brain injury.
These blogs are very poignant reads, so be sure to check them out by visiting FriendsOfHollis.com.

As a network of kith and kin I think we did a pretty amazing job of fundraising to get Hollis back home. However, her family is still burdened with out-of-pocket medical expenses recently such as the purchase of a new custom wheelchair and Botox injections in her right arm so they can stretch her arm out in order to place a brace on it to straighten it. There are other numerous costs as you can well imagine so fundraising for her medical continues. If you have a bit to spare, please donate to Hollis.

Rest In Peace: Martin Bosworth

Tanja Barnes
I first met Martin Bosworth (aka @martinboz) a year ago this month at the L.A. Tweetup, a face-to-face social networking meetup for Los Angelenos. So in a weird way it seems fitting that I learned of his recent death on Twitter.
Bosworth was a managing editor at the consumer advocacy site ConsumerAffairs.com. He also posted to his personal blog Boztopia. In the short time that I knew him, I found him to be an extremely intelligent and articulate man full of mirth and wonderful ideas to share. Upon reading his blog post entitled “Who’s Gonna Take The Weight?” I discovered an in depth recounting of his fight against thyroid disease.
To me the tragedy in his passing is the fact that he had a long standing struggle with his insurance company to pay for his medical treatment because of a gap in coverage between jobs. He was only 35 years old. You can read more here.

Ensuring that health care reform isn’t just about providing coverage to the uninsured, but reforming the system to prevent excessive overbilling, medical errors, and other costly mistakes and bureaucratic snafus that only harm the patient and waste the provider’s time.

I have faith that my current issue will turn out okay. I’ve been through worse, after all. I think, in a philosophical sense, that I am going through this at this exact time in order to drive home how serious the need for better health care is. Listen to my story, share it, repeat it, and do everything you can to support real health care reform for all.

— Martin Bosworth
The passage of a national health care reform bill is more than an economic issue: it’s a moral one as well. To quote the late Senator Kennedy providing access to health care is a “fundamental principle of justice and the character of our country.’’ Please contact your senator today.

Goodbye, Martin. I will miss your strong smart voice pixelating out from my little neighborhood of the blogosphere. May you rest in peace.

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This clip featuring Twitterer @chaiguy and Bosworth was taken on 4 February 2009.
It’s from a longer video entitled “Is Twitter The Vomitorium of the 21st Century“?