On Friday, February 6th, my friends Brent and Francesca Pearson brought into this world their first child, a wonderful baby boy named Daniel Simone Pearson.
But joy turned quickly to sorrow as Francesca's health rapidly faltered. Two days later, Francesca was moved to intensive care. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, on the afternoon of February the 18th--not quite two weeks after giving birth to Daniel--Francesca passed away.
While there is nothing that any of us can do to lessen this tragedy, I also know that I must do whatever I can to help one of my best and oldest friends get through the hardest time of his life.
Those of you who have been following the campaign updates for Bloodlines may already feel like they know Brent a little bit as the player behind the sneaky temple raider, Caedrus. But that doesn't begin to cover it.
In real life, Brent is an extraordinarily gifted musician and teacher,
working tirelessly to share his love of music with a new generation of students.
He's been my good friend since third grade, and we might as well have been
brothers for the amount of time we spent in each others' homes growing up.
Despite living 50 miles apart today, we still see each other regularly at gaming
sessions (though not as often as we'd like).
To help Brent and his baby boy in their time of need, Gwendolyn and I are establishing The Daniel Fund. Its mission: to ensure that "Mr. Daniel," as he's called, has every opportunity to grow up and become a gamer like his proud daddy.
To that end, we call upon the help of our readers. If you gamers out there can see it in your hearts to help out another gamer in need, we encourage you to contribute whatever you can to The Daniel Fund.
In return, Gwendolyn and I pledge to match every dollar contributed to this cause. That means that even a $10 gift to The Daniel Fund is actually worth $20 toward diapers, formula, babysitting, and Daniel's first set of dice.
You can donate to the Daniel Fund via PayPal. Use this email address for donations: brentp98516 (at) msn.com.
If you don't have PayPal, donations can be sent to the following address:
The Daniel Fund
c/o Andy Collins
12910 SE 258th St.
Kent, WA 98030
Reminder: it's not safe to send cash through the mail. If contributing by check, please make the check out to BRENT PEARSON.
If you wish to share your words of support with Brent, to confirm receipt of your gift, or if you have any comments or questions about the Daniel Fund, please send email to daniel at andycollins dot net. (Replace "at" with @ and "dot" with . when addressing email.)
You can follow the progress of The Daniel Fund in this thread on my message boards, or on this page.
We sincerely thank you for any support you can provide.
Andy Collins & Gwendolyn Kestrel