Hey RIO,

It's been awhile since I was really active in the forums but some of you might remember me. Unfortunately this is not a "happy" post. Tuesday of this week my mother had quadruple bypass open heart surgery. The surgery went well, she is recovering in ICU still and had a partial lung collapse today which they fixed right away. Now, she is the strongest person I have ever met on this earth (she had a heart attack Friday and didn't even visit the ER until Monday morning and that's when they found the blocked arteries). When she was 18 she was abducted in the middle of winter and spent 3 days locked in a trunk before someone finally found her. This resulted in frostbite and the loss of all of her toes on both feet. She never once felt sorry for herself, never let it restrict her life and I believe that is one of the reasons she has been so strong throughout life. I have no doubt that she will make a full recovery and will probably feel better than ever.

I am not making this post just to tell you all about my mom. I am making this post to ask for help. I have been playing poker professionally for ~1 1/2 years now. I am still playing small stakes though so I don't have a bunch of extra money, my mom has no insurance and not much money in the bank. I will do everything I can to help her emotionally and financially just like she has done for me growing up. As a matter of fact I wouldn't be taking this shot at professional poker if it wasn't for her, she believed I was smart enough to do it and she gave me the financial freedom to take a real shot by letting me live an expense free life while I was learning and building a bank roll (basically all of 2013). Now I want to try to help her out, I don't want her to stress out about this ridiculous hospital bill. My sister has set up a GoFundMe account and I can think of no better place to turn than the poker community. So if you have a few minutes please check out this site, myself and my family will be incredibly grateful for any donations, every dollar counts. GoFundMe Page

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read this. I really can't think of a better place to ask for help than RIO. While poker has gotten a lot more mainstream acceptance over the last decade there are still many people who think poker players are just degenerate gamblers looking to hustle everyone. If we were sitting across from each other at a green felted table we would be trying to hustle each other and take each others money but when the game is over so is the hustle. As a community I think we can do pretty impressive things when we put our minds to it. Right now I hope we can raise a little money so my mom can worry about recovery and not about how she is going to be able to pay for the surgery that saved and extended her life. Personally I can think of nothing more depressing than having a life extended only to have those extra years filled with more stress and worry over money.

Thanks for listening RIO,
- arizonabay