I created this site during the winter of 1998 to showcase the paintings and sculpture I had been doing during the previous decade. I taught myself HTML, the language used to create websites- long before the advent of JAVA, PHP, and the many other languages in use today. Back then the internet was a much different place. Google was a little known newcomer on the search scene, and spam still came in cans. In the ten years this site has been online, it has had many thousands of visitors. Some came to look, but others came to take. "Borrowing" my images without permission to "decorate" their own pages, and promote their own agendas. Others soon "borrowed" my images from them until, at the last count done by a personal friend, there were OVER 4,000 instances of EACH of the top 5 most popular images on this site spread around the internet. 20,000 uses of my artwork THAT HE COULD FIND! All with no permission, no credit, and no link back here. If not for what happened next, It wouldn't be a big issue.
In the winter of 2004, an auto accident complicated an already serious case of Rhuematoid Arthritus and, unable to continue working, I entered the murky world of Narcotic Pain medication, muscle relaxants, and round after round of MRI's, xrays, and chiropractic manipulation as Doctors tried to bring the raging pain under control and restore some quality of life. All to no avail. At first, we survived because my wife was a successful real estate broker. Then the market crashed and things went from bad to worse. I was on Social Security Disability, my wife took a job that barely covered the day to day expenses of a houshold with 5 children. Then, early last year, in an event that has to be described as Divine intervention in this age of Medical Records privacy concerns, occurred as a copy of my MRI report became stuck to the back of a set of records going to a leading and very devout Doctor in the field of Rheumatology. He contacted me and started me on a treatment for my condition that dates back to the middle ages. Using injections of Gold Salts- dismissed by most practioners in favor of more "modern" drugs (with their attendant "modern" side effects)- he brought my condition under control and then helped me through the long and very difficult process of withdrawel from 4 years of narcotic pain medication. A process that is only recently finished. And one that was a bit like waking up in the path of a speeding train. For as my mind cleared from the ever present fog of medication, it was to the desperate reality of our plight!
We are poised on the brink of foreclosure. Our credit is ruined, and despite having filed chapter 13 in a desperate bid to save our home, we are behind again. The mortgage company is demanding DOUBLE payments for six months or they will take the house we have lived in for 12 years. The home our children grew up in. I can't help but think that if each of those "borrowers" had just sent along $5 we wouldn't be in this situation. But tracking down 20,000 pictures is a nearly impossible task. All we can do is turn to the visitors to this site and humbly ask for your help.
Can you make a small donation to help a family in need? Do you know someone who could help? Can you send them a link to this site? Have you come accross images from this site elsewhere on the internet? Could you direct the site manager here? I can't believe the Blessed Mother has brought us this far to abandon us. Nor can I believe that Our Lord, who said "whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me" will not return your generosity a thousand fold. Please do whatever you can. There is a Donate button below and a donate page within the site. Both do the same thing. You have our heartfelt gratitude and will always be in our prayers.
Thank You
Matthew Brooks
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