Healing after Liver Surgery

My name is William Payne, and I could really use your help! Some of you know me as Will, Bill, or Billy Payne. I’m originally from the Boston, Mass. area, but I now live in the South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale) area. I am a teacher at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Things have taken a turn for the worse in my life and that is why I am reaching out right now. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, it had an immediate impact on me financially because I was no longer able to earn extra income working at my after school program. All schools were forced to teach classes from home (online) and this was a difficult and timely process, as we had to help students adapt to their new situation as we adapted to ours. In mid-April, after approximately a month of no extra income, I became ill. After several days, I became very concerned hoping that it was a stomach bug and not COVID-19! It got so bad that my daughter, Summer, ended up calling an ambulance to take me to the emergency room. I was placed in the ambulance and I was informed that I passed out just as we entered the hospital. Eventually, the decision was made to move me to the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, located about 40 minutes south of the first hospital. The doctors there determined that my liver had failed and needed to be replaced. I was not aware of any of this until I woke up in the hospital bed. I was in a coma-like state for about a week before surgery was performed on April 25th, and I was released in early May. However, on May 7th, after two days of not feeling well and experiencing concerning symptoms, I returned to the hospital for scheduled blood work. It was discovered later that day while I was at the hospital that I had a hernia that needed to be repaired right away and they re-admitted me. The second surgery occurred the next morning. I was released again on May 15th. I was so very fortunate to qualify to receive a liver in such a short time and my 25-year-old daughter volunteered to have me stay with her during the initial stages of my recovery. I was in a very weak physical condition and would not have been able to take care of myself on my own. This put a great strain on Summer. The medical bills associated with the liver transplant, medication, and related post-surgical care has been staggering and seems to grow every week! This has greatly affected my ability to not only pay for these current medical bills, but also impacts my ability to keep up with the previous mounting medical bills that I incurred following the Parkland tragedy not to mention general household bills and expenses. As you can see, this situation has had a great impact on me physically and financially. It is really important to my future that I make every attempt to recover as quickly as possible, but unfortunately, I cannot do it on my own. Hopefully, this is where you come in. I would greatly appreciate any contribution you could make to this cause through this website. Please consider helping me out at this time. I sincerely thank you! No contribution is too small to make a big difference in my life.