I joined Daily Kos in 2008, with hope for Barack Obama's victory strong in my heart. Times have pulled me away from here on occasion, not least after the death of my father, and during hard times brought about by being our severely autistic son's primary caregiver, but I have always come back, feeling community and support here. You are a special group here at The Great Orange One, and I am proud to be a part of it. Never in a million years did I ever imagine that I would have to write a diary like this, and I hope you can find it in your hearts to help.
Earlier this year, my wife and I secured land and a modular home that we would move into, to provide security for our children and a forever home for our son, who will almost certainly require 24/7 assistance for the rest of his life. It was a goal we had sought to attain for over a decade, and we were about to achieve it. Everything was going to change.
And then it did.
We suddenly found ourselves homeless for reasons too complex and rooted in familial issues to go into here, and we ended up living with my sister-in-law in her tiny, two-bedroom apartment. Undaunted, we redoubled our efforts - it would only be a few days, a few weeks at most; nothing too bad, right?
On June 20th, my wife was diagnosed with Stage IV synovial sarcoma. Her median survival time with treatment is projected as 10-48 months, but new therapies are coming on-stream all the time, and she is due to start a clinical trial for a new immunotherapy in January. However, even if successfully treated, she will require a radical hysterectomy and possibly a leg amputation, given the current spread of the disease.
She has health insurance, but like millions of others, her copays are crippling us. Her doctors have decided that they have to get very aggressive from the outset, which means many expensive, exhausting chemo sessions. Treatments currently run to almost $1000 a month. Earlier this month, she had to go on medical leave from her job, and has applied for temporary disability and Medicaid. Unfortunately, neither of these benefits will start until after the New Year. We will make it, I know, even with these reduced means, but the immediate future will be very tough.
Cancer treatments and finishing work on the property have destroyed what few savings we had, and now we are living hand-to-mouth.
We cannot finish our home. We still live on my sister-in-law's floor, and progress on finishing the house has ground to a halt.
We need help.
I have no right to ask for it, even from a community as positive and generous as this one, but we have no choice; we are out of options.
Please, I beg you; we need ~$1800 to finish the well, electric and sewer system for the modular home, and to build a wheelchair-friendly porch and entrance to the house, together with final payment on the transportation of the modular home itself to the site.
If we can secure the funds, our children will have a home, and my wife a safe place to face whatever comes next.
We have set up a PayPal for donations - the email address for donations is churlygurl(at)gmail.com. I'm unsure of the ins and outs of how one goes about this sort of thing, and so we're very much "winging it" here. We're open to any other suggestions you may have.
I am so sorry to come to you in this way. Needless to say, this situation is painful, stressful, and deeply embarrassing.
Thank you for your kindness and understanding.
Freelance Escapologist
http://paypal.me/KitMac82
http://paypal.me - email address churlygurl (at) gmail.com