Joe Ferrara Needs Our Help via The Phoenix Real Estate Guy

I met Joe several years ago.  He is truly a pillar of the national real estate community and a forward thinking contributor of some major changes and innovations in an industry that so desperately needed transparency and a shake down.  

I just learned tonight that he was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor.  Life is so incredibly fragile. Please pray for Joe and his family and consider a donation no matter how small to help with medical expenses.

Here is the blog entry from friend and fellow blogger Jay Thompson aka The Phoneix Real Estate Guy from May 10th:

This is going to be one of the most difficult posts I’ve ever written…

Many reading this know Joe Ferrara. If you haven’t had the honor of meeting Joe in person, then you are missing out on knowing one of the finest human beings to ever walk the face of the planet.

Joe is one of the co-founders of the Sellsius Blog, a site chocked full of goodness for real estate agents, brokers, buyers and sellers. He, along with his partner at the time Rudy Bachraty, also were the geniuses behind Blog Tour USA. In the summer of 2007, Joe and Rudy wrapped an RV and set off across the country stopping in many locations and bringing real estate bloggers together. They defined social media before social media was cool.

I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say the Joe Ferrara is one of the people who is primarily responsible for bringing the “re.net” together. His contributions to real estate, and literally hundreds of real estate practitioners, knows no boundaries. Joe is an extraordinary speaker, teacher, author, and friend.

And Joe Ferrara is very sick.

He’s been recently diagnosed with a very aggressive malignant brain tumor. I’m not a doctor, and I haven’t been able to speak to Joe since the diagnosis, but he is having a rough time right now and is currently in an Intensive Care Unit in a Pennsylvania area hospital.

Joe’s good friend Scott Forcino has been in contact with Joe’s wife Sandra, who is understandably over-whelmed right now. Sandra has granted permission to get the word out about Joe’s condition, and has graciously allowed us to try to raise some funds for Joe’s medical expenses, which are probably bordering on the absurd.

I have set up a PayPal account to accept donations for Joe’s expenses. You can donate by clicking on the donate button at the top of the sidebar on the right. PayPal is a secure site, you do not have to have a PayPal account, and you can donate via credit card, or “eCheck” (electronic draw from your checking account). If you have a funded PayPal account, you can also use that.

If you have a blog or website and would like to add the donate button to it, just copy/paste the code in this text file.

I’m in the process of setting up a site to collect donations at joe-ferrara.com (site is not active yet, but will be shortly). In addition, there is a “Friends of Joe Ferrara” Group that has been started on Facebook.

Please help spread the word. I realize times are tough for many, but they are tougher for Joe and his family. Any amount you can donate would help. If it fits your beliefs, a quick note to the man upstairs sure wouldn’t hurt.

Hang tough Joe, you have a LOT of friends out there that care deeply for you.