Bring Bryan to a Better Place
Donation protected
My name's Tom (on the right). My better half is Bryan (left). We have been dating for the past year: I go to school in Chicago, he lives in Northern Minnesota. Long-distance is hard, but we've made it work through tears and laughter.
It's been a year since we planned for him to move in with me, but there has been so many struggles along the way. He gave up college to take care of his dying mother before I met him. After she passed away, his stepdad evicted him from his house so he could remarry. He now lives in a family cabin built a decade or so ago.
The cabin has no washroom (except an outhouse that freezes over in the Winter), no running water, and is infested with insects and mice. It's almost ten miles from the closest town, so his lifeline is his car, a 20-year old minivan just a swerve away from its chassis falling off.
He lost his job because it was thirty miles away and the car couldn't survive the winter roads. He lost his insurance, and cannot pay for antidepressants or other medication. His family is in no position to help him, and the main reason Bryan couldn't leave is to repay what he owes to them and to sort out their mental issues.
I didn't know how to tell his story, and for the past year I've tried to support him on my own. Even though I am managing 3-4 student groups and taking graduate coursework, I've given him the $2000 I gained as a Teaching Assistant and about that much out of my pockets.
The Winter, however, has made things so much worse, and I'm running low. The night before I made this, he told me his car tire popped while on the highway. He had to spend hours dragging it to a gas station with frostbitten hands. All he can afford to eat is microwaved popcorn. And, hearing this, I couldn't take it anymore.
I'm sorry that we're asking for money. Both of us would rather we were already united, finding jobs and starting to build our lives. But, after years of him struggling with no one to listen, I want Bryan to have some support.
Asking for $4000 is a huge request, but that would be enough for everything we need. It will be enough for him to buy suitable clothes and his medication. It will work towards buying a new car, so he is actually able to move down here. It will help with rent once he is settled in.
I think that's all we had to say. Thank you for reading through this and helping out.
It's been a year since we planned for him to move in with me, but there has been so many struggles along the way. He gave up college to take care of his dying mother before I met him. After she passed away, his stepdad evicted him from his house so he could remarry. He now lives in a family cabin built a decade or so ago.
The cabin has no washroom (except an outhouse that freezes over in the Winter), no running water, and is infested with insects and mice. It's almost ten miles from the closest town, so his lifeline is his car, a 20-year old minivan just a swerve away from its chassis falling off.
He lost his job because it was thirty miles away and the car couldn't survive the winter roads. He lost his insurance, and cannot pay for antidepressants or other medication. His family is in no position to help him, and the main reason Bryan couldn't leave is to repay what he owes to them and to sort out their mental issues.
I didn't know how to tell his story, and for the past year I've tried to support him on my own. Even though I am managing 3-4 student groups and taking graduate coursework, I've given him the $2000 I gained as a Teaching Assistant and about that much out of my pockets.
The Winter, however, has made things so much worse, and I'm running low. The night before I made this, he told me his car tire popped while on the highway. He had to spend hours dragging it to a gas station with frostbitten hands. All he can afford to eat is microwaved popcorn. And, hearing this, I couldn't take it anymore.
I'm sorry that we're asking for money. Both of us would rather we were already united, finding jobs and starting to build our lives. But, after years of him struggling with no one to listen, I want Bryan to have some support.
Asking for $4000 is a huge request, but that would be enough for everything we need. It will be enough for him to buy suitable clothes and his medication. It will work towards buying a new car, so he is actually able to move down here. It will help with rent once he is settled in.
I think that's all we had to say. Thank you for reading through this and helping out.
Organizer
Tom Cui
Organizer
Evanston, IL
