How did this come to be?

This web site grew out of an extraordinary run of bad luck. A couple of summers ago my chronic autoimmune disease (it doesn't really have a name, but we can call it "Charley") had been flaring for months. I was in that dull, self-absorbed state that it's so easy to get into when a chronic illness is on a rampage, but even I could tell that something was wrong.

My partner of almost 13 years had become distant and was spending less and less time at home, and the company that I worked for was a "dot.com," which should have given me a portent of things to come. In one lovely week in July, I got laid off from my job and from my relationship. My partner told me that her biggest reason for terminating the relationship was my chronic illness. She didn't mind me, but being in a ménage à trois with Charley was too much.

My entire world had been centered around this person and this job, and suddenly I had neither. Desperate, I went cruising the Internet to see what kinds of support there were for a lesbian with a chronic illness, and I found <drum roll, please> nothing.

Like Scarlett O'Hara clutching her turnip or carrot or whatever that thing was, I declared that this wasn't going to happen again. I mean, there isn't anything I can do to prevent people from losing their jobs or their lovers, but at least I can make danged sure that if a chronically ill lesbian is desperately cruising the Internet, there is something out there for her to find.

And here it is — Amazon Lifeline!