In all the years I've been participating in the Lotus Domino community, I've never asked for a contribution or charitable donation to be made for any particular cause, though I've seen it done once or twice. Please forgive me if you find this an inappropriate posting to this space, but the matter is quite important.

A short distance from the small town where I am, as many of you know, a volunteer firefighter is another volunteer named George Carman. George is a regular guy who chooses to donate his time and effort bravely serving his community of New Gloucester Maine. What makes George even more special, is that the time he gives up for this noble cause is even more valuable than you can imagine. He has Cystic Fibrosis.

This is a degenerative disease inherited genetically when both parents posses a recessive gene. This man who gives up so much of the one thing he has less of than any of us is likely to have -- his time -- will die fairly soon without a double lung transplant. Its not a possibility, its not a likelihood. Its a certainty. This man, who is willing to risk his life regularly to save any stranger, will drown in his own fluid.

Folks, this is rural Maine, and fund-raising is not an easy thing to do in a state with high poverty levels to begin with. In addition to George's medical issues, these brave donors will be missing a month of work, traveling to New York, and enduring pain and risk. We are trying to raise $300,000 total to cover these expected costs. I am asking you to consider making a donation to the fund which will be used to pay the medical expenses for the transplant for George, and for the donors expenses as well. Further, I would ask you to consider passing this information along wherever possible, so that George can focus on the awesome difficulties he's faced with an not worry about leaving a massive burden behind.

The National Transplant Assistance Fund is coordinating the effort. You can send a contribution to:

NTAF
150 N Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120
Radnor, Pa 19087

Write on the check: IN HONOR OF GEORGE L. CARMAN.

Or you can click here to make a contribution online.

For more information, and as a check on the credibility of these statements, I refer you to the coverage on the website of a local T.V. station, here.

George Carman has been a volunteer firefighter in New Gloucester and Yarmouth for 14 years, even though he suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. Now his fellow firefighters have created a fund called Lungs for George, and are asking the public for help. The National Transplant Assistance Fund is coordinating the effort. You can send a contribution to:

NTAF
3475 West Chester Pike, Suite 230
Newtown Square, PA 19073
Write on the check: IN HONOR OF GEORGE L. CARMAN.