Can you spare a few dollars to help Minnie Marks?

Many Gold Coasters would be aware of epically talented blues artist Minnie Marks and her insanely fast guitar stylings. Minnie, her lightning fingers and husky vocals have been a mainstay on blues stages around the country for a few years now, as always accompanied by her sunny smile and super engaging presence.

Well, Minnie is doing it tough, folks, and we mean TOUGH, and she needs your help.

In a year that was already the most difficult for the worldwide musical community, with artists everywhere struggling to make ends meet, Minnie has come up some hectic medical diagnoses which are costing her not only her health and ability to work, but also a mountain of cash in the form of urgent medical care.

Minnie has just been diagnosed with a unicuspid aortic valve; an extremely rare congenital malformation of the heart which affects only 0.02% in the adult population. And in case that wasn't crazy enough, at the same time, cardiologists found severe aortic stenosis and a dash of severe aortic regurgitation to boot.

But wait, there's more.

While undergoing scans for her heart issues, doctors discovered that Minnie also has an auto-immune condition called Löfgren's Syndrome Sarcoidosis. This is a disease characterised by the growth of tiny collections of inflammatory cells (granulomas) in any part of your body — most commonly the lungs and lymph nodes. But it can also affect the eyes, skin, heart and other organs. It causes excessive inflammation, shortness of breath, chronic fatigue, chest pain, a skin rash , dizziness and more. So as you can imagine - this coupled with her heart problems isn't pretty. At this point Minnie can't even walk up her driveway to take the bins out without losing her breath and almost passing out. Scary stuff for a 27 year old.

Minnie urgently needs open heart surgery to put in a new mechanical heart valve. The cost of this, coupled with the next to no work for the next six months minimum while she recovers, plus the work she's already lost due to COVID, illness, and the over $5,000 in medical costs she's already incurred during the diagnostic process, means that she desperately needs financial assistance.

>>> Donate to Minnie's GoFundMe

We know everyone is doing it tough, but even $10, $20 would help make a difference. You can donate to Minnie's GoFundMe here, and send her message of love and strength as she goes through what is an incredibly frightening experience with her characteristic humour and charm.

Minnie is undergoing her open heart surgery on 29 June, and it would be great for her to have some relief ahead of that big day. So please give whatever you can. Every little bit will help with her medical and ongoing living expenses, and you can donate anonymously if you wish.

Let's band together in the spirit of all beautiful creatives on the coast, to help one of our own in need. Everyone who knows Minnie knows what a hard worker she is and how hard it would be to ask for help, so let's make her feel loved and supported by the community she's such a proud part of.

You can read Minnie's full story and statement and donate here. You can also grab some Minnie merch right here!

In the meantime, wrap your ears around some of Minnie's incredible tunes below, and get those streams happening!