I first met John Draper or Cap’n Crunch at ITEXPO in Los Angeles as he was looking to connect with Asterisk Creator and Digium founder Mark Spencer. I still remember how mystified people at the conference were when they learned this gentleman’s nickname was a breakfast cereal. In case you don’t know the story, John blew the whistle that came in the box of Captain Crunch cereal into a phone and was able to subsequently hack into the AT&T Central Office.

He became the first hacker by accident.

Draper also knew Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, a past ITEXPO keynoter.

The Cap’n now needs our help. He has a major medical situation. From his GoFundMe page:

Captain Crunch will be facing some very difficult surgery on March 28, 2017 involving 3 incisions, 1 in his side after removal of one of his ribs. 1 in the front of his stomach where they have to move all of his vital organs aside and 1 in his back requiring an 8 inch incision to gain access to his spinal column.

They have to put a “cage” surrounding his discs and add 4 more screws to help support his spine.The surgery will last approximately 9 hours or more, and may involve a second surgery the following week if there isn’t enough time to complete the entire surgery at once.

This extremely complex and dangerous surgery gives Crunch a 50/50 chance of a normal life. A 10% chance he may not recover at all and a 20% chance of becoming permantly paralyzed. 

There is 4 to 6 months of recovery and requires significant homecare after he is discharged from the rehab center.

Telecom has a few iconic characters – Cap’n Crunch is one of them and now he needs the community to support him.

As of this writing, 106 donations have been made worth just over $4,000. This is how you can make one as well.