An update on Charley, and an appeal to keep the help coming

It’s been more than a month now that Crux’s managing editor, Charles Collins, has been out of commission due to a devastating illness. Charley has been in the hospital in the UK since May 7, fighting for his life, and we’ve been running a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of his wife Claire and their two boys, to help defray the mammoth expenses such a tragedy inevitably creates.

I continue to be humbled and awed by the generosity people have shown. As of this writing, we’ve raised just under £40,000, which translates to just under $51,000, and we’ve had 560 contributions. For all of that, we will be endlessly grateful.

Needless to say, however, that amount only scratches the surface of the need. Right now, Claire and the children have lost their primary breadwinner and need to cover basic life necessities; going forward, they’ll need even more help paying for the care Charley is going to require as his recovery unfolds.

Here’s the latest update from Claire on how Charley is doing.

Early last week Charley was transferred to another hospital, to the north of Nottingham, with a specialist cardiology department. The following day he underwent open heart surgery.

The procedure was successful, the recovery period can put the rest of the body under considerable strain. He will be in recovery for a few more days in the specialist cardiac intensive care ward before they consider releasing him back to intensive care.

He will have more surgery to face in the coming months but the heart surgery was a massive hurdle to have cleared. Many thanks for keeping him in your prayers and thoughts.

I know there’s a tendency in these situations to donor fatigue, and I know all of us face limited resources and multiple demands for our help. Still, I’m going to continue to ask for your help, because Charley is a special person, Claire is showing remarkable fortitude and courage, and their boys need their father.

Please do whatever you can, and know that your help will never be forgotten. I’ve always said that Crux isn’t just a news agency, it’s a family, and that’s never felt more the case than right now. As a reminder, the campaign is denominated in English pounds because the family lives in the UK, but if you donate on the GoFundMe site, whatever amount you give will be automatically converted into dollars or whatever currency you normally use in your account.

Here’s the link to donate. May God bless you all for whatever you can do!