(As a brit) I don't understand this:<p>"Molly was employed at the small NPO Knowbility as the Open Web Evangelist. Knowbility was able to put her on Family and Medical Leave which allowed Molly to retain her health insurance coverage. The FMLA time period has ended and the only coverage available now is through COBRA."<p>So she had health insurance, but now that she's ill and has to stop work, it is stopping? If health insurance doesn't help you when you are sick, when does it help you?<p>Thank god (and the Labour party) for the NHS.
Best wishes to Molly for a speedy recovery and to feel better soon.<p>Thank goodness she is famous, even if lesser known by the mainstream and friends can appeal to help her.<p>For those that think the ACA (obamacare) will solve this after January, nope.<p>A full half of the states [1] have denied medicaid expansion (because the supreme court ruled they could turn it down) which means if you fall into the gap where you "make too much money" ($12k - $16k) you cannot get health insurance.<p>So if you got ill but were trying to work part time to stay in your home/pay rent, you will probably make too much to get health insurance!<p>[1] <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/02/us/uninsured-americans-map.html?ref=health&_r=0" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/02/us/uninsured-a...</a><p>This is probably going to cause "healthcare migration" where people who get ill have to move to get assistance if they have some income but not enough.
Molly's books were what really got me started with web development. She was kind enough to send me a signed copy of one of her books when I was probably ~13 years old after emailing her. About ten years later, I was able to meet up with her here in the UK for a coffee, which was lovely.<p>If you can, please support Molly's treatment with a donation. Thank you.
I want to help, but all I have is time and skills. So if anyone here needs some English language proof reading done (I do have some tech skills but they are very rusty) contact me, I will do the work, and you can donate something to this cause.<p>Email is in my profile, and I'm the head teacher for a language school so my skills are good. My problem is I have two small babies and I live in a low income country so even $10 is tough for me to give right now, but I'm a worker, and I will pull an all nighter to do this.<p>Honor code, I trust you to donate, send proof if you can, but either way I hope I can do something to help. I don't care how much (I know people who need English proof reading are probably coming from low income countries too) but anything would be good.<p>Lee
For those wondering if this is legit, Molly herself has confirmed it on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mollydotcom/status/398090908496691200" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/mollydotcom/status/398090908496691200</a>
If you live in the US, this should serve as a warning that you need Long Term Disability insurance. If your employer doesn't offer it, get it yourself. Healthcare is still broken and ObamaCare doesn't fix this situation.
Having met Molly at a CSS WG meeting last year, she's an amazingly enthusiastic (maybe too enthusiastic) contributor to the W3C.<p>The fairy godmother comment is pretty spot on - she's plays the part of the consensus builder and conscience to various disparate technical parties.
My one story about Molly - I met her as a speaker at an XML Conference around 1999 or 2000. She was extremely welcoming and kind to me, a wet behind the ears nobody at the time. We went for a speakers' pre-conference dinner that night, and it was decided we would have Sushi.<p>As a Northern Brit I had never seen nor eaten sushi before, never mind looked at the menu. I asked if she minded ordering for me, and she graciously did so.<p>As my first time eating sushi I assumed the small amount of guacamole provided would be topped up once I finished it, so I happily spread the top of a piece of sushi with half of my "guacamole". Never have I wanted to scream so much in my life. Molly just kindly passed me some extra water and made sure I was OK.<p>I never really kept up with her, but she'll always be there sat next to me when I had my first ever wasabi experience.
What happens to people in USA with similar situation (employer-provided insurance ends, life sustaining healthcare is needed, no income to pay for that) who don't get a successful fundraiser?<p>Bankruptcy due to unpaid medical bills? Withheld treatment because of non-payment, possibly causing death? Both of these?<p>No offense, I'm simply curious on how the system works.
If you'd like to find out more about Molly, she has a blog. I enjoyed her Desktop Browser song: <a href="http://www.molly.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.molly.com/</a>