Martha Yarrington Nicholas and her husband
We’ve been asked by several people in Richmond to remove our previous posting for Martha Yarrington Nicholas and the fundraiser held in her honor, Candles for Martha.
This has been a personal struggle for me given the recent news about Martha’s cancer being a farse to raise money. I posted the fundraiser story in good faith, as did many others, in an effort to help a Richmond mom in her family, so when the news came out, along with thousands of Richmonders I was shocked, stunned, appalled.
Several close friends have been campaigning for Martha in good faith–a faith that their help, funds, care would help Martha gain the medical access she needed the cancer they believed her to have and take care of her beautiful family.
So when I am asked, does this make you lose your trust in those who ask you to help them? Will you consider not posting and promoting fundraisers in the future? Has your faith been shaken?
The answer is: for a moment, yes.
My heart goes out to the hundreds who campaigned, sent monetary gifts, posted to Facebook, and sent emails urging others to show their support. The friends who gave up so much of their time and their hearts will always feel the sting. Their children and family, surely, will be the ultimate victims in this, and they are in my prayers.
The courts will decide the correct punishment, but my sense is that regardless of facts and decisions that may be presented in the court of public sentiment, the family’s painful sentence is already immeasurable.
This won’t change the mission of our site and our team to reach out and help others, and I hope that it won’t dilute your faith or caring for anyone else in need, either. For it’s compassion that is the core of our very beings, from caring for our vulnerable children to showing unbridled love for a stranger in need whom we may never have met, who may have an illness and longing we’ll never comprehend.
I believe though I do not comprehend, and I hold by faith what I cannot grasp with the mind. –Saint Bernard
