I sent 
a parcel.
In the hopes that it will help verify his identity.
There has been controversy over the identity of the user known as .
Perhaps because he appeared asking for help in the most unusual of situations.
There has also been speculation about his condition.
As I attempted to assist him, we embarked on the difficult task of acquiring legible documents that could be used to source specialist medical treatment, and to property identity who he is.
I have revealed parts of my life over more than a year. I would like to believe that I have established myself as a believable steemian.
When my husband revealed I am sick and papa-pepper offered help, we sent papa-pepper verification of my treatment, illness, medical specialists expenses.
I wanted to believe that if IS who he says he is, that we could help him.
So before sending the obscure bundle of gifts, I sent verification of the items featured in past post to Steemit's trusty Papa Bear papa-pepper.
I think we all agree Papa is the real deal.
I finally sent a little parcel to the peppers too last week. It will be post marked from Australia and should arrive this week.
Just a small token of my thanks.
To risk a little by believing and continuing to believe is the only way I know how to live.
Steemit risked believing in me. At my lowest time I found sanctuary here.
I still do
The steemit community support I received when my husband revealed I am sick was a lifeline during difficult times.
I am still struggling with ill health, but to know that this platform has provided a place for me to BE, is a blessing.
I am so grateful to this platform.
Sometimes people have asked me, Why do you trust that your money will go where you think it will?
Steemit trusted me, and I am not only grateful for the support, but I am so amazed by the trust.
We have little to lose and so much to gain by keeping a belief in people.
I have been through a time when my most treasured memories were proven to be built on wickedness.
When you find goodness again through such misadventures it is something to be treasured.
I found that belief when I met Kevin and Mark.
They took a great risk trusting me. I was a relative of a person with whom they had zero trust. Who had hurt them terribly.
I ran marathons for them. I gave them my heart and soul in the hopes of healing theirs, and they ended up healing mine.
In this photo I am wearing the shirt and medal from the final marathon that week. I referenced it in a post over two months ago.
This photo features in one of my earliest posts, over a year ago.
I graffitied on the shirt and even sewed on the little felt girl that you see in my profile pic.
https://steemit.com/art/@girlbeforemirror/drawing-with-felt-and-thread
This is one of the photos I sent to papa-pepper.
I sent Arnold a bundle of undisclosed items. Included with this marathon finishers shirt and medal were items that have featured in my posts over the past months.
He received the parcel at last.
We had given up hope that it would arrive.
I am pleased to share these with you today.
Items from my thrift shopping post many months ago.
And a broken bottle of Vegemite. Sorry dude, that's terrible.
A card I made and posted on steemit 3 months ago
https://steemit.com/art/@girlbeforemirror/a-stitch-in-time
Inside, a tiny drawing from a post inspired by the #tinyartchallenge.
https://steemit.com/art/@girlbeforemirror/floral-chakra-4cm-squared
It features my horrible arthritic, hypermobile fingered scrawl (Which has graced a lazy self indulgent poetry post from time to time too.)
I am mistaken for being naive or idealistic sometimes.
I'm not.
My eyes are wide open. I see when things look questionable, and I also can't close them to things that are not OK.
is often quoted-
Everyone has something to offer.
I am almost completely housebound.
I have my good days, but I pay for them after.
Maybe this in itself presents an opportunity. To be able to spend some time, online, finding purpose within my own frustration.
I spent my days emailing.
Foundations
Charities
Hospitals
Doctors
philanthropic types
Everytime I asked
It has been frustrating for both of us.
Sometimes it seemed like we weren't on the same page.
But when I asked for photos of doctors or verification of places, he would borrow a camera and risk offending a specialist doctor to verify the visit.
The address he put up with a Google Map to his home is where I sent the parcel.
When he posted about receiving it we again had some issues to work through.
As I said, we are sometimes not on the same page.
I messaged him
FRUSTRATED
Why didn't you do a verification photo with you in it man?
I messaged him with a WT? Style message and he sent me this photo pretty quickly.
Along with a derogatory comment about his appearance and permission to share the photo.
My parcel did reach the man with Liontiasis in The Philippines.
In his posts he has listed his doctors, facilities, treatment history, date of birth, home address, health progress, updated treatment plan etc.
He desperately waits for someone who might know someone.
I have tried to be that someone.
But I am limited. By my own health and by my resources.
Steemit is a new frontier. It offers an opportunity for people like Arnold to hope that they can change their circumstances.
It is a new frontier because it relies on trust and risk.
But aren't some things worth the risk?
I believe in steemit.
I believe that at the root of the word humane is human.
People.
People are capable of doing SOMETHING.
What we choose to do is only limited by the amount we are willing to risk and trust.
There are some very talented people here.
If you have the time and the ability, the information
Proven true, we have the collective that is capable of doing something to help.
Steemit offers equity in a world that is sustained by inequity.
Liontiasis is itself the face of inequity.
In a country where basic health is a right not a privilege, the 15yr degeneration of his health that resulted in his disfigurement would not have occurred.
Google it!
If the calcium levels and endocrine imbalance had been identified in a simple blood test, and appropriately treated, he would not be disfigured, but managing the burden of a chronic illness like so many of us.
Seldom do I consider that my daily existence with what is now refereed to as a chronic illness, a privilege.
But compared to many fellow steemians on this equal platform. I am very lucky to have access to medicine and doctors.
He and I live in very different worlds. The things I have available to me, as hard as it has been, is not a reality in The Philippines right now.
Clearly the growing group of talented Filipino steemians is evidence that the country has great promise. But right now, they need our help to help him.
Perhaps I haven't proved without a doubt that the person who is making every post is the very same person.
That is true for all of us
He has a mother who works every day and who would give her last breath for him.
This is my mother yesterday at my appointment.
This is Arnold's mother
His words speak for us both.
She is always there
With him, waiting at every appointment.
As he tries to get comfortable on any chair available.
This was me yesterday. My mother was sitting opposite me. She drove 60kms to be there.
We are not different
We are humans.
