 Ahoy, ahoy, and today's episode is going to be a little different than probably what you were expecting. We're not doing a tale reading or a verses today. There's a very important thing going on the scp community right now, and I feel it is critically important for me to make sure and spread the word about it. Now for anyone who's been following me on Twitter, you may have noticed last night I tweeted out a GoFundMe page for Dr. Gears. And you might be thinking yourself, well who is Dr. Gears? And if you're asking yourself that, you probably not super familiar with the wiki, or at least not as familiar as you think you are, but Dr. Gears is the author behind scp682, scp106, scp914, and a little thing called the document recovered from the marinara's trench. So super important articles with regards to the history of the scp wiki. And of course he's also the author of a number, a huge number of really, really popular articles beyond, you know, 682 or the old man or the clockworks machine. It's hard to overstate just how much impact Dr. Gears has had on the wiki. Dr. Gears was the master administrator of the scp wiki for like the first two years. When the wiki was just getting off the ground, he wrote the second scp of all time. He created the idea of groups of interest, like the serpent's hand, the broken gut, anything you particularly like, that originated, the idea of having other anomalous groups in the scp universe, that idea originated with Gears. The scp wiki owes its existence to Dr. Gears. I'm going to end today in case my own exultations of Dr. Gears are not enough for you. I'm going to end today by reading his personal message on the GoFundMe that he has created to help fund it's not just the medical costs. Medical costs are high in America. That's a guarantee. But even if he has insurance that covers him, there's going to be co-pays. There's going to be incidental costs like for example, he talks about in his GoFundMe how his wife has to take off work sometimes to take him to the doctor to get checkups, to get tests, to one of these days get the surgery, to remove his cancerous kidney. These things add up. And if us donating 10 bucks or 20 bucks, I should say 20 bucks because it's a little bit more expensive these days, he's got a family of four. But if us donating 20 or $30 means that one day out of the entire year, he doesn't have to worry about dinner, then I think it's worth it for all of us to make sure that that is the case. So I'm going to read his GoFundMe page right now because I think it's important that you hear directly from Gears as to what's going on in his life. Just as a warning, first of all, this does talk in some depth about his medical issues. There's nothing too serious here, but if you're squeaming shit all about that kind of thing, you should probably skip to the end of the video. Before you do, I'll add revenue from this video up to I say the first 30 days because that's when most the ad revenue comes in and I can't keep track of it for years and years and years going on. But for the first 30 days of this video's ad revenue, that's going to go straight to this GoFundMe. After that, we're going to actually probably be thinking about doing some fundraising. I think maybe I'm going to do a fundraising livestream for this, but I'm still working out some details. I don't want to commit to that right now because I don't know for sure if I can do it, but if I can, I will be. I think I'm going to try and organize something along those lines. So there will be a link to his GoFundMe at the bottom of the page. And to my patrons for today, apologies. I know I claim that you get a credit in every video. We're not going to be doing the Patreon pledge thing today because it's not what this video is about. If you're thinking about making a new pledge to me this month, go on over to the GoFundMe, pledge some money to Gears. He needs it more than I do right now. So I'm going to go ahead and start reading now. My name is Daniel. I'm also known as Dr. Gears, one of the writers for the SCP Foundation and the creator of several beloved feared entities across several works. I'm also married with four children, two of whom have autism, and I'm a stay-at-home dad. I have been known to even call myself an author from time to time. In early January of 2020, after sitting on the porch with my wife one evening, I went to use the bathroom. I was horrified to discover I'd urinated a great deal of blood. It being late and wondering if perhaps it'd been a reaction to a diet aid I'd been taking, I decided to wait for the morning. When the morning came, it came with more blood, a sharp pain in my side, and a full blood clot along with blood and more urine. That was just a tad bit much for me, so we went to the emergency room. We assumed it was perhaps kidney stones or some kind of infection. The pain was impressively distracting, but began to ease as I passed more clots. They ran a scan, and I waited in a drug comforted daze to hear the results. Likely kidney stones, maybe some drugs to take, and so on. No. I had cancer, the doctor said. Pretty obviously, too. Days of confusion, appointments, tests, ones that have not really ended yet. However, there are some results. First, there's a seven centimeter wide mass on my kidney. That's rather horrifying to see it on the scan. It's nearly as big as the kidney itself, or at least looked like it to me. There are a lot of options, treatments and the like, but they boil down to a simple path. I need to have my kidney removed along with the tumor and swiftly. In terms of cancers, this isn't the worst outcome. We are blessed with two kidneys, and me finding it this early, it's likely I'll make a full recovery with no loss of function. However, tests are ongoing, and I have been stealing myself for the next step of the punchline. Some final divine gotcha, but no further tumors are as of yet found. I strive to remain cautiously optimistic. Surgery is hoped to be minimally invasive, and to have me return to full form as soon as possible. However, I will be significantly impaired for at least a few weeks, and depending on further developments may require ongoing treatments and medications. My wife, our sole breadwinner, has already been called to miss several days of work, blessedly with their approval for the time being, and will likely have more as this process goes forward. We are a poor household. While not fully destitute, even on good months, we are sometimes called on to decide what bills can be allowed to slide to pay for others, and to make decisions on what and how much we can eat. Raising a large family is not without its struggles, but we strive to make ends meet. My great fear is that my illness will break us. When deciding on getting a pizza for dinner requires a quick check of the bank balance and short math, the possibility of medical bills or medication and the already realized truth of missed income from work could be more than enough to put us in a tailspin. Our support is essentially non-existent. We have ourselves, a few well-meaning but similarly strapped friends in a county that lead the poorest state as the poorest county for several years. Simply, we have nowhere to turn if things go poorly, or even if just slightly unexpected. I am loath to rely on charity, to publicly display my own inability, but much more is at stake now than simply my own pride. Any amount, great or small, would aid us. Medical bills, rent, utilities, the various costs of life. Donating would help us through this time of unease and worry, and allow both myself and my family to focus more on healing and making the changes needed for my ongoing health. Should the worst happen, or some new growth be found, or complications arise, donations will allow us to face these challenges on better footing, instead of needing to decide between electricity or medication. Forgive me if I have pleaded my case poorly. I have never easily relied on others. I only do so now out of concern for my family. I hope to master this challenge and use it as a push forward, however, I cannot do so alone. I ask for your help, whatever the form. It should be noted that this GoFundMe was originally a $1,000 goal, and it reached it in like an hour from it being published. I think that was a low ball. It's now at $10,000, and that's still a low ball. I mean, oh man, I hope he has insurance to be honest with you, but even if he does, it's not gonna, $10,000 will probably only cover a fraction of his incidental cost. So if the goal is $10,000 and we reached $10,000, do not pat yourself on the back. This is still something that needs to be shared. This kind of stuff, I'd say anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 would be reasonable as a number to hit because medical costs can skyrocket. And again, people having to miss work is a serious thing. What's important to me is just trying to remove as much pressure and stress from somebody as possible. It was undergoing something where pressure and stress can affect the recovery. So think about this. You are on this channel right now because you are a fan of SCB content. You love if you're a writer or you're just a reader and fan. This site, this avenue would not exist in its current form. Honestly, probably wouldn't exist at all without Dr. Gears, period. There would be no secret laboratory. There would be no containment breach. There would be no multimedia movies going on. There would be no YouTube channels devoted to readings and examinations of what's going on in the SCP universe. There would be no groups of interest. There would be no SCP 682, the unkillable lizard. The old man would not exist. And those are just the things that he directly influenced. So please, donate. The GoFundMe link will be in the description of this video and in a pinned comment at the top of the comment. So, you know, do the things, man. And if you can't, if you are broke, if you can't give any money, share the link. Explain why it's important for other people to donate. That's it. Thank you very much for watching and let me know for sure that we're not alone out here. I'll see you all again on Tuesday.