Where are your words, Paul Curran?

/ December 2, 2015

The constant commenter has not been commenting these days.

WordPress’s most prolific guest poster isn’t sending out posts to any of his regular places, either.

There’s been a hole in BloggyVille where Paul Curran’s words are supposed to be shining, waxing, tickling, educating.

Paul Curran, we want to hear from you again.

Paul Curran, we want to hear from you again.

A few of us who’ve regularly hit the publish button to allow the friendly Canadian to share his thoughts with so many are concerned.

Willow, of Willowdot21 over in the U.K., reported that he never sent over his regular Sunday Cuppa column to her for Nov. 8, and that was after he said he was too ill to write his Nov. 1 piece.

Cordelia’s Mom confirms that she hasn’t heard from him either.

The latest guest blog I’ve found is Paul’s lovely piece on driving truck Mama Mick Terry published on Nov. 9. However, Paul did not reply to any of the 30 comments left by her readers. And he always replies to each and every person who takes the time to leave thoughts on his writing.

So that’s a concern.

I’ve been trying to figure out why.

From years with working with Paul, we know a few things. Paul writes his and corresponds on an old laptop. So we’re hoping that the answer is as simple as a busted laptop that his limited disability budget won’t yet allow him to replace. That could also explain the unanswered emails of concern.

But we also know of his weekly dialysis treatments and past medical battles. That frightens me enough that I’ve Googled his name and hometown of Ottawa. There was not a worse-case scenario hit there, thankfully. I’ve also called the biggest hospital in Canada’s capital and been told he’s not an in-patient. They would not confirm anything about possible extended dialysis treatments, however.

Unfortunately, our WordPress friendship did not go past emails. I don’t know if Paul has a phone, landline or cell, and searching his name finds no hits in the Ottawa white pages anyway.

Willow, Cordelia’s Mom and I are hoping that perhaps the right folks sharing our concern — and this post — might turn over the right rock and somehow alert Paul to our concern.

Linda G. Hill up there in eastern Canada, do you know anybody in Ottawa who might help the cause by you sharing?

Hey Ottawa Citizen Our Town reporters, you’ve got an Ottawa citizen who’s a much-loved international blogger and a terrific story, if you can find him.

So, Paul, if this reaches you somehow, here’s a message. If your problem is no laptop and short funds, I’m sure a few dozen of us who dearly miss your words would pitch in to help you get going again.

If you lost your contacts because your old laptop crashed, my email is markbialczak@gmail.com.

If you’re ill and can have somebody else reach out to let us know, please do. People care. We’ll rally to help in any way we can.

We miss you, good sir.

If you have a message for Paul Curran, please feel free to comment below. Also, please share this post via WordPress, Twitter, Facebook or any means you think may help get him the word that he’s got friends here who’d like to hear from him.

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126 thoughts on “Where are your words, Paul Curran?”

  1. Pingback: DON’T PAY THE RANSOM! I ESCAPED! (Guest Post by Paul Curran) | Cordelia's Mom, Still

  2. Pingback: CORDELIA’S MOM’S CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER (’cause we all love newsletters so much) | Cordelia's Mom, Still

  3. Mark, I’ve been so wrapped up (down) in my own whatever that I had missed the news in July that Paul told Willow he was ill–which I regret terribly. He would have appreciated good wishes.

    Paul’s mom lives in Toronto. Don’t know if this might help, because I don’t have her first name, but who knows? It occurred to me that if Paul needs help with his care, he might be with his mom.

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  5. He’s lucky that you all care so much. I’ve just read your other post, so I know he has been found live and well. Many people who don’t blog don’t understand these ‘cyber-friendships’, as if they can’t be real or genuine since they don’t occur in your own neighbourhood face to face. I’ve never believed that, and this post just goes to prove them wrong. You are a good friend to have, Mark. 😊

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    • Thanks, Ali. I feel like I know you, really, for instance. 🙂 This WP community is like having a pen pal in “The Day,” to explain it to those out of our loop, but far more frequent and sometimes even instantaneous when it goes to the email stage.

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      • Yes, that’s how I always describe it too. In any case, its very real to all of us… how fortunate we are to be able to befriend people with similar thoughts and interests right across the world! It really is a small world and a global community.

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  7. Just left Linda G. Hill’s place and am so happy to hear the news about Paul Curran. Not that infections and busted modems are good news but they are totally short term issues! Anyway…isn’t this WordPress community wonderful?

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  8. Pingback: Mr. Paul Curran has been found! | Linda G. Hill

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  10. I emailed him a couple of weeks ago and had no response. I wondered if he just needed his space, a break from blogging. He is all over the place on WP. Keeping up with that must be demanding. AND, he has had a lot of serious health issues. I have done all sorts of internet searches trying to locate him in case he needed something but had been unable to find him anywhere. That made me think he may not want to be found? Short of calling hospitals for info, which legally they cannot give, I just dunno. I have spent a lot of time worrying about him.

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    • I spent so much time worrying that I put the wheels in motion here, Doc. I thought about his pulling back on purpose, but his last submission for Michelle’s blog had a tag that seemed the opposite about blogging. Also, I don’t think he’d ignore emails from us at this point even if he wanted to remove the pressures of WordPress. We shall see if we can track down our friend.

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  11. This gives me hope bro Mark. I always wonder if anyone would notice if I go silent, and wonder why. Probably because my kids only call one or two times a week, and when they pop in to visit, if I don’t open the door they figure it’s because I’m not at home. I guess at times being a free spirit can work against people as well as for them. Since I have sworn never to spend another minute in our hospital, if I fall, I don’t call for help, but somehow manage to either make it to a chair and pull myself up, or call for assistance only. So I just wonder if I would be missed like this by my WordPress family, and how long it would take before anyone started checking on my welfare. On the worst days I even wonder if anyone cares. Weird, huh?

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      • Just got my Internet back up a day ago bro Mark. I know you care, and I was wondering about the people a little bit closer physically to me. Got my answer though when two of my brothers called and invited me to lunch with them on Friday of this week. All is well here, unless we factor in the obvious, but I don’t think about that much now. Too busy to think about anything.

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  13. And there it is again, this amazing community, sticking together… seeing something like this makes me believe in this world. I’ve never read anything from him but I really hope he’s fine and I will check him out now. I do hope you find him working on setting up his new laptop and in good health and spirit. All of you are amazing!

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  22. You’ve done some serious sleuthing! I figured he was dealing with dialysis issues. We can’t lose our walking Canadian encyclopedia! Surely he is just creating another one of his amazing life chapters, soon to share with us all.

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  23. I’ve thought about Paul too, and wondered…. his voice is missed and i hope we have a positive and easy outcome to this mystery. you are so kind to actively try to find the solution –

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  24. This is by far the most kindhearted post I’ve read. Thank you so much for your compassion and also for the compassion of others that has been shown here and through the many reblogs. I do pray that he is found safe and soon.

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  31. Reblogged this on Linda G. Hill and commented:
    It seems frequent guest poster and most famous commenter Paul Curran hasn’t been seen of late. If you have any information on his whereabouts or how he is, please comment here or on the original post. And if you read this Paul, we’re worried about you!

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  33. Hmm… I’m going to Ottawa tomorrow, to the children’s hospital which is actually attached to Ottawa General. I think I remember him saying once though that he’d visited the General, so that’s probably where he’d go, if that’s what’s going on. Having said that, do you remember him ever mentioning which area of Ottawa he lives in? There are several hospitals and several different sections of the white pages as well. I used to live there, so I know the area well. Email me at bacamjoly at gmail dot com if you think of anything I can check out when I’m there… though I’ll have an impatient kid in tow, so my resources will be limited.
    I doubt re-blogging will help since he’s the only blogger I know in Ottawa, but I’ll try.
    Thanks for putting the word out, Mr. Mark. I’ve been away as you probably know, so I haven’t been online as much lately and hadn’t noticed Paul’s absence.

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  34. His absence has been felt and Paul is greatly missed. I’ve been keeping him in my prayers and hoping for the best. He’s a rare treasure and some of us are rather fond of him. So Paul, sending you much love where ever you are.

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  39. Mark: You are not one to let go of this until you find Paul, and I hope that indeed it is something as simple as a broken laptop. You do indeed raise the interesting issue of a limitation in our virtual communities. Which given today’s technology capabilities is/should be an oxymoron. I am hoping that the Ottawa Citizen Our Town Reporter will get going on this ASAP.

    You are just the best, Mark. And Paul, whatever your situation, there are many people globally wishing you well.

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    • Hopefully Paul is just unable to communicate with us for a SMALL reason, Robin. Karen and I and Elisabeth and George are well, thank you. As I hope you and the whole family are as we approach the holidays. 🙂

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  43. I’ve been thinking about Paul too. And worrying. It’s funny that on the web we can feel a connection, when in the “real” world we don’t know basic things about our virtual friend. Here’s hoping we hear from Paul very soon.

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  44. Hey Mark,
    Thank you so much for sharing.
    I think and worry about Paul every day. He actually gave me his mailing address right before his post went up on my site. I sent him a package and a note for him to call or email when he received it. Unfortunately, I have not heard anything 😦
    Thank you for sending out another smoke signal — I hope we hear from him soon. Xo

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  45. Mark, I am so hoping this is a computer issue and not something worse. Count me in if there is a Go-Fund-Me or the like to obtain a new computer plus I can ask around to see if there is anyone willing to donate a laptop to a such wonderful man.

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