Help Save Koko's Life!

The owners of service dog Koko, Bobby and Bessie Bourbeau, live in assisted housing on Maui. Bobby has been bedridden for twenty years, is suffering from many ailments and lives a small life compared to what he used to have. He can't leave the bed, hasn't got the use of his hands and has horrible daily seizures.

Once he was the comptroller for a well-known dairy on Maui, (the makers of POG). As a talented musician, he accompanied many of Maui's finest singers in the mega hotels during convention shows, in lounges, dining rooms and played the keyboards for countless theatrical productions at Maui Community Theater, Maui Children's Theater, MAPA and many more.

Bobby is shown here in his healthy days, wearing the black suit, beside Eric Gilliom (movie star and singer/actor) and song and dance man Bill Hensley in the white suit. Also, vocalist, Joyce Mitchell.
He's well-known on Maui as the piano player who always answered the call, whether there was money involved or it was a fundraiser. He did MANY fundraisers! A talented musician, Bobby did much of the musical arranging at the Iao Theater productions and worked with Amy Gilliom and her brother Eric, for years.
Koko is his service dog, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, who answered Bobby's call to action 4 years ago when the dog displayed a special talent to predict seizures. Not only is Koko invaluable as a working service dog but he's been Bobby and Bessie's child, comfort, constant source of unconditional love and enjoyment.


In the last year Koko has developed severe Gastritis and has a difficult time eating. Bessie now has two invalids she cares for. Koko has a pinched nerve on his spinal chord and has trouble walking. Surgery is essential if Koko wants to regain any semblance of the life he once had. These days he lies in his bed, in pain, wasting away. He needs expensive medication.

Bobby and Bessie aren't asking for themselves. They are asking for money to help save Koko's life. Help save their child.




Even f you can give $10, it would help.

Either pay Bobby and Bessie directly BandBMaui1@aol.com on Paypal

Or send a check to the Reverend Suzi Osborn

Rev. Susan Osborn
346 Ku'ualoha Street
Kahului, HI 96732

Or contact Koko's vet directly. Contact me at kimhornsby@yahoo.com and I will give you the vet information.


Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Bobby, Bessie, Koko and their friends.

This from Maui's Reverend Susan Osborn

"BOBBY BOURBEAU NEEDS OUR HELP!

Bobby and his wife Bessie are desperately needing some financial help for their sweet little service dog, Koko, who is currently suffering from a debilitating malady.  Koko, who is adored and cherished by them, needs meds and eventual surgery which the Bourbeau's simply cannot afford.

We all remember when Bobby used to entertain us with his talented piano-playing.  Since a catastrophic medical injury, he's lost the use of his hands resulting in a permanent loss of income, plus he has brain damage caused by his daily seizures. 
Bessie also has her own degenerative disc disease and an arthritis-riddled body to contend with, while she's caring for both Bobby and Koko.  Bobby and Bessie are subsisting on disability income, sometimes eating food-bank expired canned foods in order to give Koko his much needed medicine and some nourishing food."


I'm Kim Hornsby. Bobby once played keyboards for shows I did on Maui. He was the sweetest accompanist ever! And talented. Boy, could that man play piano. And arrange music. Although I haven't seen Bobby face to face for decades (he doesn't take visitors), we've been in touch over the years and life has been very sad for this once vibrant pillar of Maui Entertainment Life. His dear wife, Bessie, childhood sweetheart is as loyal as they come. Her life isn't easy either. Some days she lines up for hours to be the recipient of wilted vegetables at the food bank. Their lives are very sad indeed but Koko gives them a reason to keep going. They love their dog.
If you wonder about the legitimacy of this, I encourage you to contact me and I'll give you the vet number. I am a bestselling author of Suspense now, living in Seattle and will vouch for Bobby, Bessie and Koko's sad story.
Please help.

New Year's Resolution 2015

I am easily discombobulated. I can be thrown off track with the flick of a notion. If I have too many things going on in my life, I feel scattered, disorganized. I've always been this way and even as a child endeavored to keep life simple. The calendar of events that exists in my imagination must be kept relatively clear. I don't like too many events, appointments, commitments, or I feel spread too thin.
The clutter in my house is a daily reminder that we have too much stuff. I've let my simple life get out of hand. The garage is full of knick knacks that my realtor husband uses for his work. All the bedrooms are chock full of clothes, books, reminders of life events. When I try to thin out our belongings my sentimental husband who grew up with very little steps in. He likes all the stuff. It reminds him of happy times and he's hesitant to let anything go. We still have the crib and our youngest is almost 13.
In talking to my sister on the phone yesterday she mentioned that her house is immaculate because she needs to keep it that way to feel organised, in control. So many things are beyond our control but a clean house is not. I've dropped the ball on this one. My house is not only cluttered but could use a team of house cleaners with mops, disinfectant, spot remover, and scads of garbage bags for the stuff we've accumulated. I recently posted a meme on Facebook that said I cleaned my house but then remembered we still live here.

We have two dogs, each 65-70 pounds who play and romp outside in our backyard. Trouble is that our backyard has very poor drainage and is now a field of muddy water in the Seattle winter rains. Although I built a bridge-like path across the backyard to higher dry ground, the dogs prefer to truck through the mud and then come inside with dirty paws. If the kids let them in, there are muddy prints everywhere. Such is life. What's that saying about the sign of a busy home is a messy house? Or is that a happy home? I worry that I'm paving the way for my children to be slobs. At least their future spouses will not be stressed to keep a tidy house. My son once commented on a friend's gorgeously immaculate house by saying it looked like no one lived there. Ha!


We live in our house. A little too much. As I type this the dogs are cavorting upstairs, barking and waking up the rest of the family with their damp feet pounding on the dirty carpet. The dishes lay waiting from yesterday, presents need to be put away from Christmas, laundry sits in three tubs at the top of the stairs and happy children sleep, unaware that their friends' homes are more organized and tidy because their mothers can keep their minds' thoughts categorized. I cannot. But the good news is that my family gave me a smart phone for Christmas and I now have a personal assistant to help me. Her name is Cortana.
And so, my New Year's Resolution for 2015 is to get rid of at least one third of our junk around the house, pare down, get lighter, sell things we don't use, give away the rest. I know that was last year's resolution and I did a bit but this is the year to get myself organized and in order to do that I need to be managing less stuff. Note to Cortana: Remind me in February, June and September to purge the house of unnecessary things. And remind me in March, July and October that I'm doing a great job.
Here's to ridding one mother of discombobulation! Welcome 2015 - the year of less stuff.