Why Your Help Matters

What you need to know about what happened

Thank you for your support. As someone who tries to be transparent and honest I wanted to take this time to use this update to help explain why your support matters so much to me and my family at this time.

This time last year I had a financial plan for an extended sabbatical. At the time the cancer was still localized and the plan was to surgically remove it. I planned to take a year or two to recover and return to work.

Unfortunately the cancer spread to stage four and the new plan became to control it because removing it was no longer a safe option.

Needless to say that changed everything but in addition to that here are a few reasons why I asked for your support during this time.

1. Union Institute and University’s (My former PhD program) misappropriation of federal financial aid funds. The school still owes me approximately 20k from July. You can look up the situation online to learn more about what happened to several students like me.

2. When the school lost access to federal funds it also meant that my plan for the current semester was also affected. In total losing access to federal funds meant me losing access to approximately 40k. As you know most PhD students depend on this money to survive while studying full-time. The program has agreed to a teach out with another university but it will impact my budget in the interim.

3. When my treatment plan transitioned to chemotherapy indefinitely it reduced my ability to travel and take more speaking engagements because I have chemotherapy every other week. Recovery time in between sessions has also increased. This means less income because I have to accept less engagements. It also limits in person book sales which yield higher earnings than books sold online.

4. Disability benefits take a while to kick in. Although my case has been expedited it can still take a few months to get approval. I can only go by the estimated time frame posted when I log into my account to check my status and the most recent estimate was 339 days. It’s unlikely to take that long but I have to plan accordingly.

5. Yes I do have book sales but the royalties are paid out once or twice a year. This is only after selling through your advance. Even book advances are paid out in segments. I’ll get the last third of my advance for my forthcoming book when it releases next month. That amount represents about a month of income for me. It’s good money but it was budgeted as a supplement to my PhD living stipend/refund.

6. Finally, the 65k goal represents the budget needed to keep my family afloat for one year. It represents the income that I need ( not including my wife’s income) to maintain our household.

Hope this helps you understand why your help means so much to us.

Thank you and may God bless you richly.

Pastor L