Dying indie developer needs your donations to survive
You've funded games that may suck. So help fund someone's life who may continue to make games that may not suck

Chloe Sagal developed indie horror title Homesick but may never develop another game again, as she faces a fatal dose of metal poisoning that may kill her in a couple months if she doesn't have surgery. You can help change this by contributing to her Indiegogo page that is currently $10,000 shy of meeting its goal with 31 days to go.

In her Indiegogo post, Sagal candidly details her current state: collapsing at school, hospital visits, lack of financial support, and struggling to work while doctors tell her she has months to live, not years. With no family support (she says they refuse to support her because her "lifestyle choice" [e.g. she told her mom that she isn't straight]), she needs all the community help she can get:

My time frame for surviving this has lowered from a few years to a few months, with loss of many basic functions due to arrive prior to my passing. I don't have time to futz with the system, right now I just need to get this thing out of me. I am a strong and independent woman, I can handle almost anything myself, but I'm setting this aside, because I do not want to die from this. I never wanted to resort to just donations (as opposed to asking for donations from people who've enjoyed my work), but it's clear that this is the best option I have right now.

It's hard to read this and imagine what Sagal is going through. We talk so much about how we need to support female developers. We talk so much about supporting indie developers who come from different backgrounds. There may be no tangible backer rewards, but what is more important than giving the literal gift of life to an artist who has been tragically cut short by unfortunate circumstances?

In addition to this vital surgery, there is a second (non-vital, she says) operation (that this Indiegogo project isn't covering) which will cost Sagal an additional $25,000. How's that for a stretch goal? I personally plan on donating, if only because I'll never be able to look at crowdfunded game projects in the same light if I don't. I encourage you to join me and tell others of Sagal's story. Tell your friends, family, and other game outlets that can help spread Sagal's Indiegogo.

http://www.destructoid.com/dying-ind...e-251111.phtml

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KbFJZHTzuy0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/i-...how_todos=true

-Very sad. Fuck her family for not helping her cause of her "Lifestyle choice"

Metal poisoning? Is there some sort of independent verification from a physician about her condition?

That's very sad. I've given over a hundred bucks each to a couple of Shadowrun Kickstarter projects, I think at the very least I can give $20 to somebody's life regardless of whether I have ever met them or not.

I am confused as I can't go to that link but don't they usually bill you after the surgery?

Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't a lot of doctors now requiring up front money for expensive surgeries when the client does not have insurance? Which I'm pretty sure is the case here.

My daughter had a minor surgery recently and we have good insurance and we still had to put up a deposit.

Same situation here. My daughter had to have a small surgery late last year and we had to pay our deductible and the remaining amount that wasn't covered by the insurance upfront, even though they were an in-network provider. Then a couple weeks ago, we had a baby and didn't pay a dime when we were in the hospital. All of the billing (including co pays), came in the mail. I think it all depends on the procedure and the establishment.

I always thought that hospitals couldn't turn you away even if you were broke and had no insurance. Are they considering the life saving surgery as an elective surgery?

Donated. That sucks.

The project has reached its goal.

What's crazy is that she has insurance, they're just not willing to pay for it (apparently because of the low chance of survival).

The metal poisoning is from a piece of metal lodged in her body, likely from a car accident a few years ago, that was missed from a prior surgery to remove the shrapnel. She lost the malpractice suit.

Chipped in $5

Does the site make her wait the 30 days before getting all the money? It sounds like she should get the surgery asap

I was wondering the same thing. It really sounds like she needs to get it now. If that is the case, I wonder if the site would let at least part of the money go early. It is medical after all, I really don't want to read that due to funding complications, she passed away unexpectedly. That would be horrible beyond belief, especially when its already funded.

It depends on the payment type. Here's the rules for her type of campaign (flexible funding)
http://support.indiegogo.com/entries/20578596
So she may have already received some of the money, although she wont get all of it until around 15 days after the closing date. If you want her to get your money fastest, use Paypal.


I imagine it may take some time to schedule an appointment, so it may be a month or so out before she can have the surgery even if she had all the money today. She could also charge to her credit cards or even get a short term loan if she needs all the funds before the crowdfunding end date.

Welp, I went the paypal route for sure. So hopefully my $20 can go to some gauze or something

I saw this a few days ago, and it activated my BS detector. Tried to go to the link just now, and Indiegogo gives an "invalid page" error.

As a physician, my BS detector was going off as well. So much of it sounded wrong. Leaving enough metal to cause metal poisoning, but it remained undetected? Unless it's plutonium or uranium, that seems unlikely. Her lawsuits against the hospital and the surgeon would be a matter of public record, so they should be easy to find if they exist.

Yep, it's gone.

She posted this on her youtube page an hour ago:

This is damned peculiar.

You guys are damn gullible.

And now the quote on her youtube feed is gone

So her the last thing she did before she died was remove the site and quote?

odd

$20 bucks is $20 bucks, and I can file a claim through paypal anyway. That's not the point, if its a scam, I'd like indiegogo to acknowledge it and get my money back. But this is just strange as hell. It was already funded. But why would she make such a statement? Maybe she did die, that would seriously suck. *sigh*, oyie.

It looks like the description on the Youtube video has been updated: