Your Opportunity To Help A Beloved Disney Historian

There are few people as impactful in the Disney community as Jim Korkis.

Korkis is an internationally-respected Disney historian that has written many articles and books throughout his career. This included articles right here on AllEars.

Unfortunately, Korkis has experienced a wave of medical issues and has started a GoFundMe to help pay for the medical bills.

Here is the full statement from the GoFundMe page:

Jim Korkis needs your help!

The 72-year-old, internationally-respected Disney historian who has authored thousands of articles and dozens of books about all things Disney, has had a series of major medical issues and is in need of financial help to pay his bills.

Jim hasn’t had any major problems prior to this, but an accident at home in February sent him to the emergency room and led to a series of discoveries of serious medical concerns. Treatment for his initial fall uncovered multiple major arterial blockages, leading to unexpected open heart surgery where Jim had a quadruple bypass. While Jim continues to fight to recover, despite occasional setbacks, it was just discovered that—not only has he contracted COVID—but he also has stage 4 inoperable colon cancer that had spread to his liver. Thankfully, the COVID is asymptomatic due to Jim’s having received all of his vaccinations. Unfortunately, the cancer had appeared and grown in the time since his last colonoscopy. Jim is now undergoing chemotherapy to try to shrink the tumors to allow for further treatment. For the last several months, he has been unable to even walk because his legs are too weak.

Because of this situation and the fact that all of his materials and his clunky old desktop computer are at home, Jim has been unable to do any writing, which was the main source of his income. Unfortunately, that has not prevented bills from accumulating for his house and the copayments for medical expenses. Medicare is covering most of the hospital costs, but not all. It’s expected that the final total of Jim’s medical costs alone will be tens of thousands of dollars.

Jim remains in good spirits, and is trying to do what he can to get back to some level of normalcy. Even the smallest contributions can add up and help Jim recover so he can get back to writing.
Jim continues to fight as hard as he can, but the fact that he can’t work and generate income is a drag on his spirits. He’s frustrated because he has spent most of his time in a hospital bed being poked and prodded without being able to rest or be productive, and the available TV channels leave much to be desired.

Jim is grateful for all the people who have bought his books and supported his work, which helps to keep his spirits up. He’s being assisted by his younger brother Michael, but Jim is divorced and has no children. Anything that you can spare to help Jim out would be tremendously appreciated.

It’s expected that Jim’s household bills will accumulate to about $25,000 before he’s able to start generating his own income again, and the medical bills may run $35,000 or more. We’re trying to raise at least $60,000 so that Jim will not be in tremendous debt when he gets back home from the rehab center. Even if we don’t hit that amount, every dollar raised is a dollar that Jim won’t be in debt when he returns home.

Thank you all for reading Jim’s work, and for supporting him at this difficult time.

If you have the means to donate to his GoFundMe, you can do that right here.

Read some of Jim Korkis’ work

Our thoughts are with Jim Korkis and his family at this time.