Cancer Benefit for artist Andrew Mangum, please read.

[Turtle]

Hey all!

 

I met artist Andrew Mangum at a small show in Texas back in April and recently got involved in a private sketch opportunity with him. He recently got diagnosed with Cancer and has been undergoing treatments that have been taxing to himself, his family, and his wallet.

 

Andrew's wonderful wife, Danita, asked me to post this here on the boards as a means to spread the word about a Cancer Benefit that his younger brother is setting up for him. Please read below for details.

 

Another artist needs your help! Another call to action!

 

As many of you may remember, I organized the big Josh Medors Benefit Auction on Ebay back in May, which was wildly successful for Josh and truly helped him cover his overwhelming medical bills. In no way do I want to be known as "the Cancer guy" when it comes to helping artists, but I find myself in a position where I need to help another artist raise some money for battle against cancer. This time it is for Andrew Mangum, my younger brother and another accomplished comic book inker/illustrator.

 

Mostly known for his inks, he has done covers and/or books with Josh Medors, Justiniano, Talent Caldwell, Tyler Kirkham, Scott Clark, Mark Kidwell and many more for companies like DC, Image, Frazetta, Zenescope, Arcana & Big City! He is also a full illustrator on such books as American Wasteland, Grimm Fairy Tales, Snowman: Ghost Dance, and the upcoming Blood & Bones.

 

The last benefit required the help of many great people, but it was Andrew, Josh's current inker on Sorcerer at Frazetta Comics, who was basically my co-organizer He was the one who had all the connections to industry people. Then the week before the auctions started running, Andrew was stricken with debilitating pain and taken to the hospital where he was soon diagnosed with testicular cancer, called nonseminomatous, phase 2. So while we were running Josh's Cancer Benefit, Andrew was actually having surgery to remove the cancerous growth. But the cancer had unfortunately spread to his lymph nodes, so now he is undergoing a grueling series of chemo therapy treatments over the next few months.

 

Thankfully Andrew has health insurance through a day job to help cover a lot of the medical costs. But because of the treatments, which have high co-payments and deductibles piling up, he can't work his day job because he is too sick from the chemo. Even worse, he is the sole provider for his wife and kids, so the bills are piling up. Therefore, action needs to be taken, so I decided to arrange another benefit style auction series like the one we just did for Josh.

I know there are a lot of fans and friends out there that want to help, so this auction series will be that opportunity. A wide variety of artists will be contributing personal works and art from their collections just like last time, and it's also open to collectors, fans, and everyone else as well. Anyone can donate if they want to help! We just ask that it be comic or comic art related.

 

Same as before, there is a special auction preview gallery on my Comic Art Fans page at:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=85567

 

If you are an artist or fan, we need your help! This auction series will be entirely made up of donated items and everything will help!

To donate something to the auctions, just email me at madman1138@yahoo.com or through my CAF with a scan or photo of the piece and the item information and I will send you the mailing address to send the goods to. I only ask the items be shipped to me in advance because there will be a lot to organize and package, and simplicity & reliability dictates that only one location handle it all. All donations must be RECEIVED no later than Friday, September 4th, 2009 in order to be included in the auctions, which will start listing to Ebay on Saturday September 5th.

 

Because so many people have been asking about just sending monetary donations directly to Andrew as well, his Paypal email address for that is: admangum@msn.com

 

Sending $5 or $10 might not seem like much, but remember the water drops principle. A drop of water isn't much, but enough drops eventually fill the bucket. Every bit counts here and time is of the essence. Now is the time to act!

 

Lastly, please only use his email address for Paypal payments and don't deluge his inbox with questions and well wishes. Although appreciated, he won't be able to reply to them.

 

So please help if you can and be sure to take a look at the auctions on Ebay when they start the first weekend of September, and maybe throw down a bid or two. The cause is noble, the art and selection is great, and together we can make a difference!

 

Sincerely,

Dave Kopecki

 

Since the benefit will be in the form of OA being sold on ebay, I figured the OA forum would be the best fit for this post. Any donations or bids would go a long way to help out Andrew and his family. I just wanted to spread the word for a good cause. Thanks everyone!

[mister_not_so_nice]

THE AUCTIONS have finally begun

 

Head on over and see if you can outbid me

 

 

Mike

[mister_not_so_nice]

Auctions end tomorrow, it's not too late to help