Donating to a scrapbook celebrity's medical billsUPDATEpg7

Full disclosure: I'm a long time pea, but wanted to post anonymously for this round:

I'm a follower of a particular up and coming scrapbooking "celebrity" who has a pretty big following, and I've always enjoyed her tutorials and videos online, as well as her regular scrapbooking podcasts. She works alongside another scrapbooker and they're both moms from the south, and honestly, even though I don't necessarily scrapbook in the same "style" as the two of them, I have always enjoyed the banter they have back and forth, their stories of their childhood and family experiences, and their southern accents are very calming for me as my family is from their part of the country. All the while that I've been a listener of the two of them, the main podcaster has starting inching under my skin; she is starting to show her colors a little bit more with each episode-- snarky and judgey in her religious comments;cutting remarks against her copodcaster veiled in sweet, southern charm; oh-woe is me with every little thing only to be sent loads of praise and "lifted up in prayer" every time she makes a remark. I was just about to venture out to "find" a new podcast to listen to, when I started seeing some really questionable activity that was like something out of a bad Lifetime movie.



Recently, the leader of the two started posting on their private fan facebook page about being in need of help with medical bills, and I instantly felt uneasy about where it was headed. It didn't take long for my prediction to come true: she was hinting very seriously about finances, and lo and behold another fan created a go-fund me page and the scrapbooker herself set up donation buttons on her business website. Since I follow her on fb, I checked her personal fb page, and there was little to no mention of her medical needs. It seemed fishy right away that her own personal family and friends would not be encouraged to give her money for her medical bills, but her sudden onset of fb and instagram followers would be. The requests were always framed with a kind of modesty, like, "oh, I am so humbled, please don't worry about me, but by the way, here's where you can donate." It just never felt right to me, but dozens of followers sang her praises every day and sent money, to the tune of over $20,000 in just a few short weeks. Today she posted again a story that was a bit peculiar to me; how she sat at the desk in the financial office of the hospital prior to her surgery, told the staff about her fans' good deeds, and the hospital immediately wrote off the rest of the bill to the tune of tens of thousands more dollars, just like that. Really? My first thought was that that seemed very convenient. I have to wonder if she could foresee the need to justify further spending on scrapbooking retreats and supply binges if she still had such a heavy debt, but that making this claim would free her from that burden in the eyes of her fans.



I feel conflicted about these feelings, like I should be happy for her that her medical expenses are being taken care of, but in reality I'm also feeling downright jealous and resentful that my family, who has thousands and thousands of dollars in out of pocket medical each year has to do it solely on our own, without the help of these seemingly blindly adoring fans. I also feel like I can see behind all of her "poor me" claims and "bless your sweet heart" thank-yous to all of her "fans." I get the feeling this woman is laughing all the way to the bank.