Tickets bought for Denver to meet Stan Lee

This will be the greatest update ever. Not only did we surpass our goal, but we used that to go ahead and get his tickets for the convention, autograph, and photo for Stan Lee. All that's left to do is find a hotel room and reserve it.

I sold a big chunk of my HeroClix collection and added 200 bucks to the mix. With that I bought my wife's convention entry (because what was raised covered mine) and have 70 left over (estimated after hotel and gas) for food and a little fun at the con besides just standing in line to see Stan Lee.  So it does look like this will be a success.

Denver is still having a rocky time, but we are pulling all stops to make sure he gets the best help he can. Doctors, therapists, and a new school IEP are just the beginning.

The donation button will remain active until the week we go to the convention. So if anyone does want to chip in toward Denver's time at the convention you can. I have been given message that a couple of you fine people wanted to do that. Here is the LINK back to that blog post.

I am humbled and grateful beyond words for what you all have done for my son. Because of you, I will be able to give him one of those rare memories that can help shape a child forever.

You know, being a child with a disorder that affects how you interact with the world around you is not a cake walk. Growing up to be a functional adult is a major and tedious challenge. Issues like context, body language, and basic social skills get lost in a dizzying mix of sensory issues. Discipline issues are hard to understand without lots of practice and very clear information. You may be very intelligent, like my son, yet emotionally regressed or late in development. Not fun. Not a picnic. What's worse, you have a nagging sense that something is constantly wrong. I know I did as a child and my son has demonstrated that he gets the same feelings.

"Why can't I understand things right?"
"Why am I such a freak?"
"No one likes me."

All of those things come from social stumblings that cause confusion. Our kids have the challenge of learning past all that and becoming adults who can handle their conditions. To realize that seeing life from lateral views that break context can be a gift as much as a curse. Once you understand it and learn those extra social skills, it becomes a gift.

"Not only do I see what you are saying, but I see another route you may not have thought of."

That's an example of turning that lateral view into that gift. No, not everyone will be able to do that, but it's the best goal you can hope for. That's my opinion any way.

Having my son meet a man who proves this creative lateral way of being (along with being my son's celebrity hero), well, how do you do better than that for a real life example?

GenCon 2004 Child's costume winner!

So I thank you good people, I thank you all. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for praying. Thank you for donating. Thank you for just hoping. May you all be blessed.

Send this autistic 10 year old to meet Stan Lee

Happy with just cardboard

UPDATE: THE AMOUNT HAS BEEN COLLECTED! READ UPDATE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION!

At this point the project is still on: Stan Lee is still scheduled for New Orleans.

I know, I was going to start posting the memoirs but something far far more important has surfaced.  I'm hoping that some of you out there are willing to do something to help out.

Many of you who read my work regularly, know that my son and I have a high functioning form of autism.  Though I went through life undiagnosed and through chaos, I'm doing all I can to make sure that my son doesn't have the same hard time.

So far that has been fairly successful. He has a great team of teachers and doctors, but he's had a hard time lately. Big changes have hit his life and he's struggling with them. It is now believed that he has to learn how to control child bipolar on top of autism. Yes, it is more than possible to have both.

Note the arches!

Now he internalizes his struggles and gets angry with himself. He puts himself down, slaps and hits himself and we are scurrying to check med changes and help him any way we can. He has been on the gluten free diet for over a month now. He hates it however because he can't have what his friends get in their school lunches. This 10 year old boy, at such a crucial time in his life, needs a morale boost. It's one thing to tell him about the successes of others out there, but if he could meet his hero, Stan Lee, I think it might just set him on a much better track. He would see that good things do happen. He would see that he is worthy of those things. That's not to say we don't tell him he's worthy every day, because we do.

Stan Lee's name gets real excitement out of my son. For a school project in 3rd grade, he played the part of Stan Lee for his class's "living wax museum". In this he would stand in front of his desk and people would come and poke his shoulder. Then he would recite some of Stan Lee's biography. He hates being poked, people.  But he did it for Stan Lee.

Now we live in Monroe, Louisiana and Stan Lee is going to be at the New Orleans Comicon in November. That creates a once in a lifetime chance to take my son to meet his favorite celebrity Stan Lee right here in the same state we live in. But we need help to make it happen.

I also know that Stan Lee loves to help out young artists. He could to that in this case with a handshake and my kiddo is a very talented little visionary. See that picture up above? He was in 2nd grade when he did that with just cardboard. He still builds things out of his room that are mind boggling. Stan Lee knows heroes better than anyone. Well, this is about my little hero!

Just to show that I'm willing to make my own sacrifices I'm doing auctions  now too like THIS.

So how can you help?   You could start here:

DONATION BUTTON REMOVED: AMOUNT NEEDED HAS BEEN COLLECTED, THANK YOU ALL FOR THIS INCREDIBLE BLESSING!

Or you can order artwork from my Cafepress store or my DeviantArt page. We won't get much from the sales but every little bit will help and you'll have something nice to show for it.

This is totally for my son. If you have any questions, please feel free to email them to thewildeman2@yahoo.com.    Bless you for even considering aiding this project. I don't know how else to show he really is deserving.   OOPS... here is the cost breakdown of making this work. The target number we are trying to hit is 435.00.   Yep, just 435. Well, it's not such a small amount when you see the breakdown. That cost covers the following:

Convention tickets for Denver and one adult (can't send a 10 year old autistic in by himself after all) and that's tickets at the door. Not ordered ahead of time. So 140 dollars.

Gas estimated at 80 dollars.

Hotel stay of 180 dollars.

And with Stan Lee.... his autograph is 55 dollars and a photo with him is 80 dollars.

So what we are asking help with only covers getting kiddo that autograph and photo... it gets one adult and him through the door and into line. If either of us adults wants more that is our responsibility.

Now if you want to send him to the con with anything extra for his own use, you may specify and arrangements are completely open.  If we can just cover that 435, it would be a massive door opener and get him to meet his hero.   You can visit the New Orleans Comicon website HERE.

A lot more on why he's worthy HERE.

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE As of 9-20-2012! Please read!:  Today we took Denver to the hospital program. The average staying time for the program is 7-10 days. That's really awesome news and I hope that's how this lands. The offer quite a bit out out patient programs as well and I think we will want to be involved in those. So the project can totally go forward. There's even more reason now than ever. When we are in that line and I get him to meet Stan Lee, I intend to tell Denver to remember it because awesome things can and do happen. END UPDATE

UPDATE: 10 dollar donation received 9-3-2012
UPDATE: 55 received 9-4-12 THANK YOU BOTH!!
UPDATE:  A very cool person shared this to Stan Lee's Facebook page. Very cool, you know who you are and we thank you!
UPDATE: 7.77 donation received 9-11-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:  9.89 donation received 9-12-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:  25.00 donation received 9-12-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE: 9.12 donation received 9-13-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:   9-14-12... another awesome person has contacted me and made many awesome suggestions as well as (this person) is actually going to bat and contacting people of the Convention itself. You know who you are and we thank you! We're blown away.
UPDATE: 10 dollar donation received 9-14-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:   25 dollar donation received 9-17-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:  25 dollar donation received 9-20-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:    5 dollar donation received 9-24-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:    5 dollar donation received  9-28-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:   25 dollar donation received 9-29-12 THANK YOU!
UPDATE:      75 dollar donation received  THANK YOU!!!!
UPDATE:   20 dollar donation received THANK YOU!!
UPDATE: 2 more donations in so THANK YOU! and that's as of 10-4-12
UPDATE: Another donation received from a person who's really going to bat so GREAT BIG THANKS, you know who you are! That 5% charge from Paypal is vexing but please don't worry about it. This is going very well!
UPDATE: A new donation breaks the 300 mark!
UPDATE! THE ENTIRE AMOUNT HAS NOW BEEN COLLECTED!!!! THANK YOU ALL YOU WONDERFUL AND SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE OUT THERE! I'M ETERNALLY GRATEFUL!  THERE WILL BE PHOTOS AND ALL SORTS OF AWESOMENESS!!! THE DONATION BUTTON WILL REMAIN OPEN UNTIL THE WEEK BEFORE WE LEAVE. IF YOU WANT TO CONTRIBUTE JUST TO HIS TIME AT THE CON YOU MAY.

Holiday scam season

It's that time of year where finances run high and people are out after your hard earned dollars. Unfortunately, scams are everywhere and you have to watch out. It's gone far beyond your doorstep or phone. Now it's all over social media sites and you might be surprised at who gets involved.

Donations. This is one of the worst because they tug at your heart strings and make you want to help out. People will claim they are collecting for some family who went through a fire all the way to collecting for big name charities. Well, I'm about to give you some pointers to avoid giving your money to unsecured donation scams.

First is a big rule you need to follow. Make it your policy and don't break it. When people come to your door or call you on the phone for donations, DON'T DO IT. Almost no one goes door to door for sales anymore because of all the scams and dangers involved. None of the big charities do this. NONE of them. Even school fundraisers have instructions telling kids not to go door to door. That's not to say you have to worry about little Jimmy next door. If you know him, know his parents, and know his school, you're probably fine. Even the Girl Scouts aren't supposed to go door to door anymore. I know that's a bit extreme, but it's to deliver a point. Joe Blow who you don't know is in your area selling magazines for the Autism Society? WRONG! Get it?

Now, as for those people claiming to collect donations for big charities, there's a few things you need to know. Here is the most important:

Anyone, ANYONE, claiming to collect donations for a major charity or organization (who is not part of that organization) MUST do so with the approval of that charity or organization. If they don't, they risk themselves towards things like jail time.

Even if a person is legitimate and still doesn't have approval of the charity organization to represent them and collect donations for them, they are doing it WRONG. I have personally seen people get into trouble for posting that they are collecting for the Autism Society or March of Dimes when they had NO approval to do so.

Check this out LINK. This man was arrested for selling raffle tickets for the Make a Wish Foundation. He even claimed to be authorized but he blew a big rule. NO door to door! On top of that, Make a Wish said he was never authorized to collect donations in their name.

Make a Wish's official status is this: Anyone collecting for them in any fashion must do so ONLY after going through an approval process. That will result in a signed agreement and letter of authorization that one must be able to show upon demand.

So, even if someone is collecting legitimately, one phone call could get then arrested. Protect yourself and do it the right way if you are considering this. If someone can't show you they are legitimate (as pretty much ALL the organizations do it this way) don't give them you're money. Don't give them your money for this, no matter what.

But how else do they look convincing past that?

Maybe they are selling something? Doesn't matter. If they claim proceeds go to a named organization, they have to protect themselves by following protocol. Otherwise you just can't be sure.

Maybe they say their kid is doing it. Same answer as above. People use their kids for personal gain all the time and it's pretty sickening. "My child has cancer and six weeks to live. It's his personal wish to give to the American Cancer Society and he'll draw you a Christmas card for just five dollars so he can give." (note the quotation marks, I am NOT looking for donations at all), I have personally seen this one on the news with parents who's child wasn't sick at all. They even did the Christmas cards and were caught with over 60,000 bucks!

Maybe they claim to be advocates or some special interest group? They might even have a list of tips like this on their website. That's right, they'll advise you on how not to be scammed by practicing due diligence their way. Well, just throw their own questions back at them and see what happens. If they are legitimate they:

-won't get offended
-won't insult you or bash you in any way
-will give you a DIRECT answer
-will be able to show proof requested

When they don't give you a direct answer based on above... run.

So what do you do when you come across these people?

Two things:

1: Do not confront them. Even on the internet. Many of them are willing to be major internet bullying nightmares and you won't hear the end of it for a long long time.

2: Call authorities and inquire. Call the organization and inquire. Leave it at that and don't buy or donate if in doubt.

It's really just that simple. Protect your money and don't give it out to support fakers and scammers. Be sure to check in next time for another survival blog dealing with advocates.