Scarlet Letter and a Surrender Flag

After 23 years of the same job, I am scrambling to continue prostate cancer hormone therapy and monitoring, digging thru public assistance programs, and seeking any  way to pay all the bills.

We should be more prepared. We tried to be. 

Protests, home seizure, an illegal political attack, court fights and appeals, robbed us of our savings and credit.

The only gap insurance offered from my employer discriminated against a person that has carried HIV for almost a lifetime. There are other issues too...

Meanwhile a disfiguring hand condition progresses without treatment. An elbow injury, a torn rotator cuff, lumbar stenosis and a very worn back, and carpal tunnel in both hands, adds a load of neuropathy to the pile.  These require surgeries to correct. Until then I am not employable.

So now, I am facing legal attack from my former employer, and judgments for the unsecured debts I can no longer pay.  I will be needing a boatload of attorneys to keep me and my wife under the roof. If we lose this home, with the very modest mortgage, we will not be living anywhere except a group home. 

I know there are more serious causes out there, and therefore I commit to helping them when I get thru this. I am already sharing my cancer research with others. I hope to share more than that in the future. But for now, me and my wife are just barely hanging on, and looking to sell everything that isn't tied down. I will never have credit again. But that does not matter, if we keep our home and I return to health. 

So even small donations add up, to keep gas in the car, and keep us going to our doctors, keep our electric and mortgage paid.

The back story tells WHAT and WHO left us totally unprepared for the future. There are links from the court fights to confirm this otherwise unbelievable story.

There are no links for WHY  except this one.



More than a disease. A scarlet letter.

In 2001 I reported to the doctor to follow up on test results. Before she could tell me, she burst into tears, then gave me a referral and a couple of years to live.

I did the experimental treatments, and watched prognosis change from a short life to an expected normal lifespan.

And I learned to keep my mouth shut.  Except to my employer. The CEO supported me personally and professionally. Co-workers were equally supportive.

I continued working, remarried, and made future plans.
Some days even, I felt I lived in the ordinary world.



The County seizes our new home.

We wanted to leave the city. Sell the house. Get out of debt. We bought a cheap property, got the permits, then financed and placed a mobile home on it.

A neighbor says the County would not allow us to live there.  We were days away from occupancy, so their issues with the County did not concern us.
It should have.

On October 1st, 2010, only a week in office, the new Mayor called me to advise my permit was illegal, seized the home, and forced  the appeal to the BZA.

On October 25th, we faced an angry crowd of 40 protestors, all with stickers on their shirts. Scared our attorney. Shut her down. My wife was petrified.

I faced the mob and closed the arguments. We won, and immediately left the hearing in fear we would be chased out of town.
The following day we find this. The fight was not over.


We were sued repeatedly by the Mayor and the neighbors for the next three years.

Appeals Court ruling and concurring opinion detail an illegal political attack, and a Tax Court  judgment reversed the County taxation on a home they sued to destroy.

It took 8 months, two more court hearings, and a threat to throw the Mayor in Jail, to end the fight for good.

We will never know what drove him to prosecute us. The Mayor died of cancer.



Fighting this case for years while paying two mortgages sapped all of our credit and savings, the house fell into disrepair and sold for a loss, and we still carry the debt.



Minor problems become a bigger issue

Researchers at the clinic had noted a bilateral progressive condition and urged me to get it diagnosed.  I resisted until it became a problem I could not ignore.

In mid-2016 diagnosis made - hands disfigured from Dupuytren's Contracture. Surgery was scheduled for the end of 2016. 


Other problems put an end to those plans.




The Cancer Attacks.

I was diagnosed with stage III metastatic prostate cancer in January 2017, 12 of 12 cores positive, indefinitely postponing the surgery to repair the hands.

It is not my time. I am NOT going.  I dumped a half-dozen medications, improved my diet and my health.

I was on a mission. I walked until I couldn't walk any harder, then I got a bike and prayed for the strength to ride it. I rode until torture became work..then just plain fun.

I rode everywhere I had to go.  I rode after work, I rode the Tour de Nash, and I even rode in for my radiation treatments.


No. I did not exit in the see-more-heinie robe.

The oncologist began expressing confidence the cancer would be eradicated completely.

I went back to work between radiation treatments and seed implants. I was unable to ride my bike after the implants. Or work. Or sit. Ow. For two months. 

I should be on track for success when the treatments are finished. The cancer will be gone. But, that treatment comes at a COST. I have lost muscle in the upper extremities. Fatigue is constant.  The hormone ablation is cumulative, and this year has been the worst. This will continue thru the middle of next year, before I can consider seeking any kind of employment.

That, provided I am able to get  postponed hand surgery. And now, the postponed carpal tunnel surgeries,and the postponed left cubital tunnel surgery.  No non-critical procedures until I restore my blood counts and finish the hormone ablation therapy.  It has to wait. 

Therefore, reemployment will also have to wait. I cannot work full-time or even a moderate part-time job.



The Company:

I was terminated from Comco USA as of 12/15/2017.  I contend I was terminated due to medical reasons, but there is some serious dispute. I was denied unemployment, both for medical reasons,and because the employer submitted to the State that I was refusing to provide medical information. Litigation may be pending, but until then, I will get no relief from them.




We are scrambling to keep it all together.

Money is quickly counting down to zero, I received the first denial from SSDI. None of the upper body injuries were evaluated as most of those diagnosis came thru in the last month. 

The worst is yet to come when the insurance expires on July 31th, 2018. My wife has coverage, but I do NOT with the exception of the Comprehensive Care Center and the support from Ryan White program.

Myself and my wife will be dependent on public assistance. We are enrolled in everything including the Ryan White program.  We are receiving food stamps. We use the food pantry from Nashville CARES.

For someone that has worked this long, this is new to me.
I will be extremely grateful for anything that props me up until I get back on my feet. 

Donations will be set to anonomyous. This may turn into a nasty legal fight and this page may get drug into it.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.