Please, before you do anything, say a prayer for Thomas Peters, who has suffered from physical disabilities since a swimming accident in July.

Thanks.

Now let me tell you what this post is about: I’ve made a donation to help a fellow writer and a fellow Catholic in need. I’d like to encourage you to do the same, as well as join us in this social media outreach to stand with Thomas Peters.

I met Thomas Peters when I was SQPN‘s Boston-based conference coordinator for the Catholic New Media Conference (CNMC) in the summer of 2010.  I had recommended Thomas’ participation as a speaker for our blogging track. I often recommended his blog when I had opportunities to introduce people to the Catholic blogosphere. Back then I only knew twenty-something Thomas as the American Papist blogger. Even then, he was a man on the move. Always busy writing, always taking up the Catholic cause for a variety of important ideas in the public square, teaching others by example how blogging needs to have a social conscience.

In recent years Thomas’ writing and commentary skills led him to being a board member behind CatholicVote.org and the communications director for the  National Organization for Marriage.

Thomas and Natalie Peters

I’ve been grateful for the information that writers like Thomas have put into the hands of Catholics and the media regarding the issues that align with Christian social values. Folks like Thomas help the rest of us to stand up for those values in meaningful ways.

So today, I stand with Thomas.

Since July, this young man I always envisioned on the move has been struggling to move. He’s been battling the impairments that come from a fracture in his 5th cervical vertebra. Yes, he has made already made good progress, but there is so much more to go. His neck has healed, and he has regained some movement and mobility. From a medical standpoint, his injury has been classified as a C6-7 injury.

Today we are raising funds for his needs so that Thomas and his wife Natalie can find a new normal.

This is the GOAL: $25,000.

Please consider a donation via PayPal here.

What’s needed:

Health Insurance via Cobra

Manual Wheelchair co-payment

Renting a motorized wheelchair – transitional

Hospital bed

Motorized lift

Prescriptions and medical supplies

Home health aide 3x a week

Handicapped accessible apartment

Expenses and miscellaneous bills

 As a woman who has had amazing support from my local community when I faced my own health crisis several years back, I have some sense of the enormity of needs Thomas faces. And the humility it takes to ask for help.

Even $5 from a caring person can help.

Read more and donate.