Ethan from GiveForward has promised to close the fundraiser and refund all donations on Monday. If GiveForward.com does not refund your donation by the end of Monday, June 27, PLEASE let me know.

If your donation is refunded and you still wish to contribute, www.bennettsgb.com is a page set up by my friends, with donations going directly to Chris's Paypal account.

Here is the sequence of events, since it's all gotten very confusing. Answers to your questions should be here, but as always post any questions in the comments and I'll reply.

On Monday, June 20, I opened a fundraising page with GiveForward.com. The purpose was to raise small donations toward purchasing me a power wheelchair so that I can continue to work despite the progression of my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. The response was more than I ever could have imagined. Donations poured in by the hour, from friends old and new, from family near and far. By the following afternoon, we had exceeded our original goal of $1,700 for a used power wheelchair and raised over $2,000. It was one of the most incredibly humbling experiences of my life.

On Tuesday, June 21, my fundraiser was disabled and the webpage was removed for flags claiming my fundraiser is fraudulent and that I don't have a disability. These claims were clearly false and Ethan from GiveForward stated multiple times that he believed me but that they needed to "follow protocol" and "protect the donors." These two phrases were repeated dozens of times during my many phone conversations with him as I tried to get the fundraiser back up asap.

On Tuesday night we faxed medical records from the geneticist who diagnosed me with EDS in Boston in 1998, medical records from my primary care physician stating my diagnosis and discussing the medications I take for chronic pain and referrals to rheumatologists, and information on EDS from the National Institutes of Health, *including their recommendation for wheelchairs among other assistive therapies.*

This wasn't sufficient. The page stayed down.

At least a dozen donors emailed Ethan telling him that they know me personally and know my story is true, and THAT'S WHY THEY DONATED. They didn't need protecting, in other words. But every time I asked Ethan what the problem was, he kept saying he had to "protect the donors."

Donors' assurances weren't sufficient. He wanted to speak directly with my primary care doctor. I signed medical release forms and set up a time for him to speak with the doctor.

On Wednesday and Thursday Ethan played phone tag with my primary care doctor's office. During this time my fundraising page was still unavailable because of a false fraud claim against me, but donors' accounts were debited for the money. The donors they were protecting. Whose money they have no problem keeping in the meantime.

On Friday, I learned that my primary care doctor's nurse had called GiveForward but that nobody was available to take the call. I signed release forms for GiveForward to speak with my pain specialist's office instead, hoping they could get SOMEONE on the phone and end this craziness. The Physician's Assistant from my pain specialist's office spoke to Erica from GiveForward on Friday afternoon. Ethan said in his last email on Friday that the information from the PA "wasn't sufficient" and insisted on speaking directly with my primary care doctor.

He had plenty of evidence of my EDS including copies of my private medical records. He is frustratingly vague when I ask exactly what information he is looking for. He NEVER gave us a clear description of what information would be "sufficient." I can only surmise that it had something to do with my fundraiser meeting its goal so quickly. It was originally slated to end on July 31st. Could it be that GiveForward is stalling because they expected to keep that $2,000 in escrow for another month?

On Friday evening I told Ethan that it was becoming clear to me that there was nothing I could do to satisfy their curiosity, that their behavior went beyond "following protocol" as they kept saying, and that I didn't want him or his company receiving 7% of the generosity of my friends. He promised to close the fundraiser and refund all donations on Monday, June 27.

My friends Phil and Rhonda have offered to host the fundraiser on a private webpage, with the Donation button being directly linked to Chris's Paypal account. The funds are immediately accessible to us, and every single penny will be used toward a power wheelchair for me. The url is www.bennettsgb.com.