The good folks at the ADDCast put together a fantastic Band-Aid version of one of Joe’s favorite songs, Jonathan Coulton’s First of May. In their words:
This song is dedicated to the memory of podcast pioneer Joe Murphy. It’s only been a month, but we miss him so.
Thanks, guys, for drawing attention to the cause!
I have been reaching out to families who have lost loved ones to this cancer and have found a wonderful lady, check out the email, and please go to her site. I think if we rally up with her, we might could cover some ground folks.
Hi Leann
Thank you so much for contacting me, and YES - please feel free to link to anything you would like to. I have a website, www.LeorasLegacy.com that has information on what I do, and I have a grief support site as well, www.MyShiningLight.com. I am planning the first of many fundraisers April 26th.
I am so sorry to hear about your loss of Joe. I read the Penn & Teller story somewhere in my surfing the other day. I was also able to have my daughter’s favorite rapper, Trina, call her during the time she was sick. It is not as difficult as people would think!
I would like to link to you on my sites too. If you prefer a picture link, just send me a jpeg pic, or I can make it a text link. Please give me a little intro of what you would like it to say to direct people to you.
I have many irons in the fire right now, as I am just beginning. It took a few years of grieving my daughter before I was ready. Now I am running out the gate!
If you have not found it already, the LMS Foundation (www.NLMSF.org) has a research project going on. I sent tissue samples of my daughter’s tumors to help out. They also started the Princess Leora Memorial Fund, so people can donate in her name for reasearch. That is where the LMS part of my donations go. I also give to the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital & South Florida Make-A-Wish, as both were instrumentasl during the time Leora
was sick.
As far as the petition goes, it has slowed a little, but not stopped. I will be collecting signatures through the year, so we have time. Most people have exhausted their mailing lists, so please pass it to yours. I have given this formula to many people to help put it perspective -
“If I have 5 friends sign, and each of them gets five, that’s 30 signatures.
If each of my fives’ fives get five, we have 130.
Each of those fives get five, that’s 630
Each of those fives get five, that’s 3,130
Each of those fives get five, it is 15,630
And if each of those fives get five measly signatures, it is a whopping 78,130!!!
So PLEASE everybody- follow up and make sure that five of your friends AT LEAST sign the petition, and make sure they follow up to make sure five of their friends do, and so on.”
I don’t think a lot of people realize how easy it is to network, but this says it all. The petition is not really any kind of legal document. It just shows support from concerned people. LMS doesn’t afflict many, but is does AFFECT many.
Thank you for writing, Leann. I hope to hear from you soon. Meanwhile, if there is any way I can help, please don’t hesitate to let me know what I can do.
Love, Jeri
Leann Mabry (leann@extravirgo.com) wrote:
Hi there,
My name is Leann Mabry and a friend of mine pointed me to the petition
site you have going. I am part of a huge family of podcasters and a part
of the Farpoint Media family. http://farpointmedia.net
We lost a wonderful member of our podcasting family yesterday to LMS and
are raising money to do basically what you are trying to do. MAKE PEOPLE
PAY ATTENTION! I have set up a website at
http://joemurphymemorialfund.org if you would like to check it out.
But my question is, how are your efforts going? And would it be alright
if I link to your petition from my site, and also put out an audio feed
for others to take to put on their shows also?
Thank You,
Leann Mabry
Producer/Host
http://tagintheseam.com
http://farpointmedia.net
The wonderful Jack Mangan of the Deadpan Podcast, has released a Joe Murphy tribute show.
It contains some listener stories about their memories of Joe.
And Jack’s stories of his memories of Joe, that literally just made my airmhair stand up and a softball lodge itself in my throat, as I was listening.
Well done Jack, I know that wasn’t easy.
Please take this and put in your feeds.
Set it free.
Take it everywhere.
Music by: George Hrab
During the past few weeks there have been some noteworthy events we would like to share that put a spark into Joe’s eyes, and a smile on his face. Leann has already mentioned she was able to get in touch with Teller of Penn & Teller, via a friend in Las Vegas. Thomas was able to hand deliver a note written by Leann explaining Joe’s situation and wish to meet them, to Teller. Teller, with his kindess and concern, was able to call Joe on Sunday night, March 25 and speak with him for several minutes over the phone.
We’d also like to mention — we think — Phil Plait was the power behind contacting Penn Jillette, the other half of the magical duo. As Mr. Jillette called and left a voicemail for Joe, in a very Penn like comical fashion.
We are also happy to share with you one of Joe’s favorite fantasy authors, Kelley Armstrong, called Joes’s voicemail line and left him a message.
We want to thank each of these individuals for their kindness and generosity, who took the time to bring a little joy to Joe during his stay in Hospice.
Mason Rocket song by Beatnik Turtle
They are the Song of the Day
Found at arcanetimes.com
Thank you Cheyenne.
We lost Joe today.
I don’t know what else to say here right now.
I will be putting out a new message for everyone to put in their feeds about the website later on.
Hi everyone. I just want to put some general information about the website out there. It is still under construction, and we will be adding audio and pictures. So if anyone has anything they want to contribute, let us know. With the help from Clair, Chris Miller, and P.G. Holyfield, we are one step closer to setting up a permanent charity for LMS in Joe’s name.
I thank my tech army who worked together like crazy this weekend to get this up and running.
The donation button is linked to a completely seperate bank account dedicated for Joe. I set this up away from any other accounts so it will be protected and uninvolved in any legal things that may come to pass. We can use these funds to help his family with anything they may have coming up, and then I have been talking to the bank for help with how to roll the remainder over into CD’s and other high interest accounts.
I am calling several cancer research facilities and am hoping to find one specifically conducting research on LMS. Once I track one down I am hoping to speak with the director and work out how this donation site can help fund their research. And I know Mike would like to give some back to Hospice.
And lastly, I am hunting down how to get some custom armbands made at the lowest price to help raise money. Brad Bowyer has been helping me look around for these, and I also contacted Geeklabel to see if they have some connections with wholesalers.
Clair and I are working on all the paperwork to make this site a charity so there will be no tax stuff to deal with. If anyone knows a quicker way to get this rolling, please let me know.
This is such a horrible situation to deal with, but I hope you will join me into turning something so bad into something positive.
P.S. And I was able, by some miracle, to pull off getting Teller of Penn and Teller on the phone with Joe last night. I understand that was a wonderful surprise and put a smile on his sweet face.
I will post more later when I get things together.
Leann
