Kickstarter

UPDATE, 4-23-12: ONLY HOURS TO GO ON THE BERT'S BOX CAMPAIGN! Join a come-from-behind winner!  $18,000 is the absolute minimum we need to fund the book.  If that amount isn't reached by April 23 at 1:37 pm, Kickstarter will not charge any of the backers a single dime, and Bert's Box will not get funded. THANKS FOR MAKING A CONTRIBUTION AND HELPING TO GET THIS IMPORTANT BOOK INTO THE WORLD!  

Bert’s Box is about Randy Hunt’s life-long adventures with a dangerous heart condition─tetralogy of fallot─and adjusting to a world that he couldn’t seem to keep up with. It’s also about growing up in a small town on the lower Columbia River in Oregon in the mid-20th century. Randy’s grandfather and his family had a general store and post office on the docks at Svensen Slough. It was a child's paradise─a lively and colorful time and place.

Randy has been writing about his heart since 1994, when he got his first defibrillator. In August 2011 he put all his notes together and started Bert's Box. But being a hands-on painting contractor and trying to finish the book isn't working anymore. He can't give his all to either one when he's doing both, and he believes that Bert's Box will be of greater value to the world. He's driven to finishing it now. 

With a goal of publishing at the end of summer, 2012, Randy is halfway there. He has two editors and an agent, and has received one $3000 grant. On April 28, he'll talk about Bert's Box on KMUN Coast Radio, an NPR affiliate. They'll interview him again when the book is finished. 

Randy's doctors and the cardiology staff at Oregon Health Sciences University have been very generous in helping him with research and letting him pick their brains. They're interested in knowing what treatment is like from a patient's viewpoint, and they're looking forward to promoting the book to other doctors, clinical staff, and patients. 

Through the unique funding mechanism of Kickstarter, Randy is seeking help from friends and other fans and the community at large to "buy time" to write the rest of the book and get it published and marketed. 

Bert's Box is a story many people will relate to and benefit from, whether they've got a life-threatening illness or challenge themselves or they know someone who does, or they're in need of a dose of courage, or they simply love stories about the Pacific Northwest. 

If you think this is a tale worth telling, if you would like to read it, please help Randy get the job done. Pledge your support in exchange for one or more of the incentives listed on the right of this page. 

Bert's Box is ultimately an invitation to keep on going when things get really bad. It's a life-affirming story, and Randy needs your help getting it out there. 

Thank you.

P.S.  DON'T MISS THIS EXCERPT FROM BERT'S BOX. And thanks again for considering a contribution to help Randy finish and publish the book; It won't happen without the generosity of people like you. Even a dollar will be so appreciated. You can also help spread the word by sending emails, posting on Facebook, Twitter, etc., and talking to anyone you think might be interested in getting this book into the world. Thanks again! And don't forget to follow your dreams!