Eric De La Cruz: A Family Prays

Twenty-seven-year-old Eric De La Cruz continues to lie in a hospital bed, somewhere in Los Angeles, hoping and praying for the new heart that will save his life. His sister, CNN Internet correspondent Veronica De la Cruz, continues to communicate with her many followers in "Eric's Army," who have donated money, time, and energy to bring his case to the attention of political and health establishment figures who had been unresponsive until she turned to Twitter to plead her younger brother's case.

Trent Reznor of the touring Nine Inch Nails, spontaneously started a fund-raising effort on behalf of Eric less than a week ago, and as of yesterday morning, it had raised an estimated $850,000. Reznor devised an ingenious VIP package of backstage access at NIN's concerts for donors to Eric's cause, and the response has been overwhelming.

So overwhelming, in fact, that Reznor announced today that all VIP capacity for the band's remaining U.S. concerts is now sold out. Given Reznor's commitment to this cause, I would not be surprised if he comes up with alternative opportunities for people to gain access to the band in order to continue to support Eric, and others in his situation.

(Many fans would love to be present at a practice session, I bet, or a post-concert party off-venue. Just hints, Trent.)

Veronica tonight is addressing legitimate concerns some have raised over Twitter about what will happen to the surplus money, should there be any, after Eric's medical costs are paid off. She is assuring followers that she will make Eric's costs transparent and that leftover money, if any, will go into a non-profit 501-(c)-3 organization dedicated to helping people in similar straits to those Eric found himself.



Meanwhile, somebody (Jesse Luna (@jesseluna -- see comment below) on the Twitter network designed a little banner consisting of a red heart/hashmark/ERIC, which has now become ubiquitous among a broad swath of Twitter activists. This entire campaign has to warm the hearts of Twitter's founders, especially Biz Stone, who has been described as a "humanist" who wants his company to help make the world a better place.

As I have speculated in my previous coverage of this dramatic case, we also may be witnessing the birth of a new kind of social movement in the De la Cruz case, something akin to move.on.org's impact on political campaigns. But this one will not benefit politicians so much as common people, with few tools to combat a vicious, cruel health care system controlled by entrenched interests utterly unconcerned with how hard it has become to find and afford decent health care in America, the richest land on earth.



I'll continue to publicize this case for as long as possible, in the hope of drawing attention to what strikes me as a remarkable new use of social media. Those who dismiss Twitter as just a lot of noise need to consider the De la Cruz case.

Rising above the noise is a signal, and I am hearing it loud and clear. It is the voice of every day Americans screaming, "We are fed up with this rotten deal you offer us in health care. It's too expensive, it's much too complicated, it's utterly unfair, and in the end it only benefits the so-called "insurers" and large institutional "providers." It screws not only us, but individual doctors, nurses, small companies, and everything that is truly American about America."

President Obama, you need to be paying attention. This is the wake-up call you need to stir a fire under the slack asses in Congress and the fat-cat lobbyists who control them, in order to reform the health care system from the ground up.

It is never wise to ignore a firestorm, however distant it may presently appear. Firestorms have a tendency to sneak up on you, destroying all that lies in their paths. So, be forewarned.

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