2009-01 Urgent appeal for Cathi Cooper

Dear Friends:
JOHN V. COOPER — magician, author, educational speaker, performance coach, and friend of many — died Sunday night, December 28, after a year-long struggle with heart and kidney problems. He was 52 years old. Due to a 20-year long heart condition that started with strep throat, John was never able to get health insurance or life insurance. Cathi, his wife of 25 years, is now in a serious financial situation.
LET ME EXPLAIN:
John was a fulltime magician and public speaker. Cathi, worked in the performance business with him, having quit a fulltime job years ago as his health required her. During the last year of his life, Cathi had to be with John 24 hours each day, even presenting many of his teacher in-service programs when he could not stand and do them. John could only sit at the back of the room and help with sales.
By June 2008, when he attended my Greenville SC workshop as my guest, John was so weak that he could not stand and work at all. Indeed, John and Cathi had virtually no income for the past six months.
By September 2008 John’s heart condition worsened. He needed a heart transplant, but could not be placed on the list due to kidney problems. By November he was placed on dialysis three times weekly — during which time John & Cathi had their 25th wedding anniversary, and he stabilized enough to return home two weeks before Christmas.
Prior to this time, with hospital bills mounting to over $100,000, John and Cathi had applied for medical financial assistance. They were turned down by Medicare and Medicaid because they had “a little money” in their checking account and because “their credit cards were NOT totally max-ed out,” they were told. The hospital put them at that time on a payment plan.
I spoke to John and Cathi the Sunday before Christmas. He was weak but “hanging in there,” he said. Both Cathi & John were extremely thankful for gifts of cash and books (to resell) sent by many friends. I assured them of our prayers via family, church, magic and clown groups.
The next morning John got worse. I will spare you the details, but he was rushed to the hospital and hovered for the week between life and death. Like the fighter he was, John made it through Christmas on Thursday, still conscious and coherent. Then on Sunday evening, with wife Cathi, brother Jeff, and 27-year-old son John Jr at his bedside, John Cooper joined his maker in Heaven.
On December 31, Cathi held a memorial service for John at the funeral home in Anderson, SC. About 70 people attended, friends from church, magicians, and speakers that knew John. Speakers included brother Jeff, Tim Sonefelt, Max Howard (for himself and reading an email from Sammy Smith), David Ginn, Mark Daniel, Tom Sikorski, Steve Spanks, Rhett Bryson, as well as Al Walker, past president of the National Speakers Association, of which John was a member. The service was full of funny stories and happy memories — a celebration of John’s life. Cathi kept a box of tissues in her lap for tears cried due to heartfelt stories and plenty of John Cooper style corny jokes. All guests were given red sponge clown noses to take home and remember that funny John Cooper. It was amazing how one life touched so many different people. John Cooper, everyone agreed, was a one-of-a-kind guy!
For the past two months Cathi has been under tremendous stress, as you can well understand. Now John is gone, and Cathi has no income and no insurance whatsoever. Book sales from her online store (see below) have been very low in recent months, which was something she tried to do while tending to John at home this fall.
Have you ever wished YOU could really help someone you don’t even know? Someone who is truly in need? Have you ever wanted the real spirit of Christmas to work in the real world? Well, friends, here is YOUR CHANCE to make that happen! The time to help that someone is NOW — and that someone is Cathi Cooper.
How can you help? Honestly, Cathi needs money to pay medical bills and house bills. Gift cards will NOT work for those needs. She needs cash. Let me suggest several different ways you can help her:
1. SEND CATHI A SYMPATHY CARD and pray for her. If you can spare $5 - $10 - $20 or more with the card, yes, that would help. Here is her address: Cathi Cooper, 101 Beulah Drive, Anderson SC 29625 USA.
2. SEND a financial contribution to the JOHN V. COOPER FUND, % Regions Bank, 3404 Clemson Boulevard, Anderson SC 29621. Cathi will use this to pay medical bills and personal expenses. It’s tax deductible, if you need an excuse.
3. MAKE A CONTRIBUTION using PayPal. Cathi has an account. Go to https://www.paypal.com and long on to your own account. Then click on “Send Money” and type in Cathi’s email: wwinc@mindspring.com. Think of it as “Wonder Woman Inc @ mindspring.com.”
4. ORDER SOMETHING from the store: http://sunnysideupbooks.com/. There are all kinds of books in the store, including magic books.
5. SEND CATHI SOME BOOKS. If you have new or used books around the house, pack them up and ship to Cathi via Media Mail (the cheapest book rate) in the USA only. Maybe she can sell them on the website.
Magic and clown friends, especially YOU GUYS — under different circumstances, this could be the wife or mom of any one of us. How would YOU want her treated if YOU passed away in this situation? Consider that and act accordingly. Whatever you do — please act now, this week, this month, to help a very nice lady out of a jam!
Personally, I believe that helping Cathi right now is living out the Golden Rule.
Sincerely, David Ginn / myself at home