A Ray Yeates fundraiser has been launched to raise cash to buy life saving oxygen tanks denied by health officials for the ‘crime’ of vaping.
Supporters have opened up a Go Fund Me Campaign and I’ll give the details of where to donate at the end of this article.
For those of you unaware of Ray’s desperate plight, here’s a brief outline.
70-year-old Ray suffers from emphysema and is a founder member of the Tobacco Harm Reduction Association of Canada.
He founded the association back in 2014 after switching from 45 years of smoking to vaping which he says has extended his life given his many health issues.
Ray and his desperately ill common-law-wife sold their home and were ready to move into sheltered accommodation, but at the 11th hour this was denied because he vaped.
His wife is now in hospital and Ray was forced to stay in a tiny hotel room which he has to pay out of his pension leaving little if anything to live on.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Nova Scotia Continuing Care services contacted Ray and told him they would be removing his life saving oxygen equipment because he was a vaper and was told he would have to pay for his own.
A shocking story indeed.
Read my articles on Ray Yeates for more detail – trust me the story even shocked an old hard skinned former reporter like me:
- Death Sentence For A Vape Advocate Refused Oxygen Because He Vapes
- Ray Yeates the Vaper Refused Oxygen Classed As Drug Addict For Using CBD
- Ray Yeates – Still Denied ‘FREE’ Oxygen
Watch this superb video from Vida.News which explains more about Ray’s life or death fight:
Ray Yeates Fundraiser – Go Fund Me Campaign
The #SaveRayYeates Go Fund Me campaign has been launched by his friend Jaye Blancher and at the time of writing is gathering support including a donation of $250 from the American Vaping Association and of course other generous donations from individuals.
It has a target of $10,000 and the funds raised will be spent on oxygen supplies and a new home.
It’s staggering that in this day and age, and in a so called progressive country like Canada, the basic rights of a home and the air that we breathe to keep us alive needs to be funded by a public fundraising effort and not the Government – local or national.
If they consider vaping a crime – then what they are doing is both inhumane and criminal – they are literally sentencing Ray Yeates to death because he vapes.
This could be your mom or dad – grandma or grandad – and if it’s happening in Canada it could happen anywhere.
Jaye says:
Today, the product which successfully prolonged his life the last 7 years has ironically become the smoking gun used to justify an action which, if carried out, will undoubtedly kill him.
He has been told by government officials in his home province of Nova Scotia that despite using the service for three years, he is no longer entitled to free oxygen because he vapes; vaping is now a preclusion to the provision of services.
Ray has been informed that this service will be forcibly withdrawn unless he was prepared to quit vaping.
Following a widespread social media campaign by THRA Canada and INNCO, Ray has been offered a one month reprieve “to allow him additional time with which to stop vaping”. The act of removing life-supporting equipment from a citizen dependent upon it is surely a major breach of ethical and legal practice.
In addition to this travesty, Ray has had issues with accommodations.
The home in which he lived sold. The need to find a suitable home was urgent.
Assisted living offered Ray a placement but at the eleventh hour, it was revoked because he vapes.
He now exists in a small hotel room with very few amenities.
The funds raised from this effort are going to provide Ray with a home oxygen system, portable oxygen unit and an affordable, sustainable place to call home.
I keep using the word shocking and I think you’ll agree that’s me being kind – this is an outrageous act of democide – which is:
…the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.
By denying Ray oxygen and threatening to ‘forcibly remove it’ what else could it be other than Government murder.
As Jaye says, Ray has been given 1 month’s respite.
In that time funds can be raised to keep him alive, however vape advocacy organizations across the globe, and not just in Canada, need to campaign against this law that threatens the lives of both smokers and vapers.
One of our own is at risk of dying – and that is a disgrace.
If you’d like to help the Ray Yeates fundraiser and help save his life, donate here:
