I have some things to say. I hope you’ll take the time to read
them, and if profanity bothers you – I’m sorry. Please read it anyway,
because it’s important and if there was EVER a time for curses, it’s
RIGHT. FUCKING. NOW.

This is my sister’s story. It is her struggle, her pain, and I am just
someone that just has to sit impotently by as she is killed. If you
spend any time on social media, you can find some of her story, in her
much more eloquent words, written clearly and concisely, with all the
grace, intelligence, research, sometimes humor, and
straightforwardness that she is known for by everyone who loves her.

But I am SO MAD. And hurt. And disbelieving.

And I want to hurl all the truth with all the fury that she is too
classy to display in a public forum, because I’m NOT classy, and in a
kinda-super fucked up way, this is my love letter to her – my furious,
profanity-littered, macabre but well-intentioned love letter and grab
for hope.

Please remember this term: RK-33.

RK-33.

RK-33.

I’m so angry. Yeah, I said that already, I know. If you looked through
my Twitter (because I refuse to call it fucking X; what a ridiculous
name) or Threads, you’ll see it in most of my posts and replies,
because this insane clown show we call a presidency and its
inexplicably stupid new cult have not only impacted the rights of our
fellow humans, but have now started to murder my sister by inches.

It’s visceral, this need to let these vile, uncaring people know that
their actions and loud, proud support is literally killing people.
I love my sister. I want you to know that SHE EXISTS. She is
beautiful. She is the absolute coolest. She is the cool girl everyone
wanted to be like in high school, even as a fully adult woman. I wish
I could include a photo of her, because she also happens to be
jaw-droppingly gorgeous, a blonde, 6-foot Amazonian warrior with the
widest smile you’ve ever seen.

She is an artist that climbs mountains and travels the world and loves
punk and classic rock and everything in between. Her photography has
been displayed in an art gallery in Chicago.
She dresses in bunny costumes and makes music videos on Lake Michigan
for the fuck of it. She photographs street art in every country she
visits and at home. When she rents a car, she gets the cherry red
Beetle convertible, because OF COURSE SHE DOES.

She lives life so hard, as hard and harder than we all WISH we lived.
She has a loving, supportive, kick-ass partner in life who is with her
every step of the way. She has friends who love her and surround her,
because she draws people to her in every corner of the world.
And because of some malignant narcissist and his cult of worshippers,
SHE MAY CEASE TO EXIST long before her time, after years and years of
fighting SO FUCKING HARD to live.

I want you to SEE what an amazing light in this shitty world is being
extinguished by a ridiculous, greedy, smelly, power-mad toddler. Can
you see her in your mind’s eye? Can you see her crack that famous
grin, throw her head back and laugh and feel privileged to have amused
this goddess?

I’m paraphrasing from some of her posts here, because she is, of
course, the most knowledgeable person when it comes to her situation:
John Hopkins has an application pending with the FDA to begin human
trials THIS YEAR of a new medication that SPECIFICALLY targets her
breast cancer that has metastasized to her bones.
Quiz time: Can you guess the name of this medication?

CORRECT! RK-33.

Because of Trump’s cut to cancer research funding, she will likely no
longer be able to participate in this life-saving trial. Instead, she
will be put on a harsh, likely ineffective chemo. She is out of
options. This is cold blooded murder, with the most common motive:
Money. Specifically, stealing money that WE PAID to the government for
the sustainment and betterment of our society and giving it to
billionaires and huge corporations (that already have the rest of our
money) in the form of tax cuts and bailouts.

So. Here we are. What can we do about this? I’ve taken to social
media, but as your constituent and with all the respect in my body, I
also DEMAND that funding for medical research be restored, including
and especially RK-33. Do it for my sister, do it for a friend or
family member with a medical condition, or do it for a loved one that
could be diagnosed in the future. But please, for all that is sacred,
DO SOMETHING.

RK-33.Respectfully, Boldly, Hopelessly, and Hopefully,

Your Connecticut Constituent,

Crystal <redacted>,

Sister of <My sister> (<Nickname> to her friends, <Nickname> to me)

P.S. If you are interested in seeing her and her art, or reading about
her struggles in her own words, she posts on Facebook at <redacted>