Tom Whitler family in need

Thomas'  Emergency Living Expenses

I never thought I  would be in this position. When my wife and I first got married  in 1970 I was an A1C in the Air Force. I was getting $110.00 per month. To make ends meet I worked part time when I was done with my daily shift on base. When our first child came along I was an E-4/Sgt with more than two years servive and President Nixon approved a nice pay raise for us but the money (even though greatly appreciated) still wasn't enough. As the years passed we had more children and I managed to get to the rank of E-7.MSgt. When I retired in 1989 . I retired from the Law Enforcement career field. In 1989 my pay, after 20 years and six promotions matched the average starting pay of a poilce officer/sheriffs deputy. and of course I retired at half pay. I am grateful forthis retirement, it keeps us going. Anyway in 1989 I got a good job as plant protection supervisor. The pay was more than a police officers/deputy's pay and alot safer. I progressed quickly until I was the Lead Plant Protection supervisor and between that and my retirement we were doung pretty good. Theb in 1991 the wall in Berlin came down, the "Co;ld War) ended and the big fat defense contracts started to dry up. The plant I worked at employed about 3000 people and worked 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. By the Spring of 1993 the plant was down to less than 500 people, working one shift and that's when they eliminated my position and I was out of work. I picked up unemployment which in Florida paid only $500.00 every two weeks. I found ways to boost our income, nothing illegal, but I would cruise yars sales and buy thins for cheap and then sell them for a profit. I finally landed a job in 1994 that started at $5.50 an hour but the business was very busy and 20 to 25 hours a week overtime wasn't unusual. I worked my way up to being a Team Leader/Relief Supervisor and with all the overtime we were doing well. THen I started getting hernias and had to take an early retirement. I found a job where there as no heavy lifting required and we were getting along fairly well. Not living like millionairs but at least the money lasted the month.

Then I was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrulation caused by a bad heart valve. My cardioligist put me on Coumidin, last year, a blood thinner, so I didn't develop blood clots. It appears I am not a good candidate for blood thinners as I had my first brain bleed in November. I was hospitalized for about four days after they drilled my head and drained off the blood. They also had me stop the coumidin until I went back for the suture removal and they had me restart the coumidin. That's when the people I worked for replaced me with someone else. A few weeks later I was back in the hospital with blood in my lungs, pneumonia and another brain bleed. I was also told I could never use any type of blood thinner, not even asprin. But on Friday I am having a heart procedure done that will stop the clots from forming although it won't stop the AFIBS. After about six months I will be able to go back to a job involvinh light work and we will get back to normal. What we need will get all of our bills current. The bank, electric company, car payment company and a few other drbts we have for furniture, appliances etc. So, if you can find it in your hearts to make a donation, no matter how small, we will be forever grateful.

UPDATE It has turned out that Tom was having a major brain bleed. He has had surgery to relieve the pressure under his skull. He remains hospitalized.
 

I never thought I would be begging for money because I always was able to handle things myself. I retired after 20 years in the Air Force. We have been married for 44 years and raised seven children of our own. As they were growing up, I frequently took one or even two part time jobs in addition to my primary military job. When I retired from the Air Force, I took a full time job in the civilian world.

 In 2004 our daughter was killed in a hit and run accident. We then adopted our two granddaughters. Over the next few years I plagued by several abdominal hernias. I could no longer do my regular job. I was put on disability in 2010. I was, however able to do light part time work to keep us afloat.

In November of 2014 my legs began to become weak.  At first it seemed to be caused by disk problems and arthritis in my back. Finally I became so weak that I had a CT scan and an MRI. It turned out that I was having a severe brain bleed. I had immediate surgery to relieve the pressure on my brain.

One month later my lungs began to bleed causing pneumonia with a staph infection. At the same time my brain was bleeding for s second time and I had surgery again.

It is thought now that all the bleeding was caused by blood thinners I was taking due to an irregular heartbeat. I can no longer take blood thinners of any kind. I will have heart surgery to lessen the risk of having blood clots which are very dangerous. The heart surgery will come when the neurosurgeon and cardiac surgeon agree that I am strong enough. It should be very soon.

I have lost the ability to do the part time job. We have fallen behind in our mortgage and other bills. We didn't get into this situation because we were careless. Our daughter did not work long enough to be eligible for social security benefits and we made too much money to qualify for state aid.  We don't need much. The money I earned part time was sufficient, but losing that income it has really put us into a real financial fix. Anything will be a great help and will certainly be appreciated.
One month later my lungs began to bleed causing pneumonia with a staph infection. At the same time my brain was bleeding for s second time and I had surgery again.