On Wednesday, November 9th, Bill Mantlo – writer of The Incredible Hulk, Micronauts, ROM the Space Knight, and creator Cloak & Dagger – turned 60.

For his birthday, LifeHealthPro.com wrote an incredible gut-wrenching and saddening story about Mantlo’s fight with Health Care and his current condition.

From the article:

On Friday, July 17, 1992, Bill left work early for the weekend, and made his usual three-mile rollerblade journey through Brooklyn traffic to his apartment near Morningside Park. Just four blocks from home, a car came around a corner and hit Bill. The left side of Bill’s head impacted the windshield. He rolled across the hood of the car, and the right side of his head impacted the pavement. The driver never stopped and was never identified.

The accident jostled Bill’s head so violently that his brain squashed against the inside of his skull, and his brain stem severed. This did not paralyze him, but it would make it very difficult for Bill’s body—particularly his extremities—to accurately receive and process electrical messages from his brain.

The story includes interviews from fellow writer Chris Claremont and Marvel’s past Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter.

The last personal entry in Mantlo’s journal, dated Feb. 14, 1995:

“My name is Bill Mantlo. I want to go home.”

Off to the right of the website, I’ve had since day-one, a link to The Hero Initiative.

The Hero Initiative is a organization dedicated to helping comic creators in need whom may need financial aid or support for essentials of life.

Many auctions of books and original art are sold through the site. 100% of all proceeds go to the Hero Initiative. You can also make a direct donation by clicking here.

The Hero Initiative has given to Mantlo in the past. The idea however, is not only to help Mantlo, but all of the other creators – or even every-day-Joe’s in this same situation.

If you can donate, please do so. If they haven’t already, tell your local comic store about the Hero Initiative and have a collection box set up. Even yet, have them order in books which the Hero Initiative has published. I first heard of them with The Hulk 100 Project, when I blindly bought a copy of the book at my LCS.

So for Bill Mantlo and the others like him, please help out any way you can.