Need a Christmas Miracle!

Hi, thank you for taking the time to read my story. My name is Chris Flynn, and I desperately need help covering rent, phone, and utility bills, along with covering covering critical medications for a terrible medical condition I have to manage. Six years ago, I became disabled, diagnosed with a horrific degenerative arthritic spinal disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I’ve suffered indescribable pain, loss of mobility, and violent spasms which literally break my back and damage my ribs. 12 of my vertebrae have been broken apart, compressing my abdominal height by four inches, crushing everything inside. After a year of sorting out the diagnosis and a treatment plan, my team of doctors said I was not responding quickly enough to weekly injections, would likely be in a wheelchair full time, and would need to be near family for support, which for me meant returning to Florida, the end of my life in Hollywood, where I had worked hard and sacrificed for a successful career in film & television they were saying was now impossible. My life was over. Upon my return to Florida, including moving all my remaining belongings back into a storage unit, my family made it clear they were not going to be any type of support, but after a few months, I began making progress with my weekly injections, regained some of my mobility, and decided to take the chance on returning to California, where at least I could try to work, and I could obtain health coverage thru Medi-Cal. I rushed back, leaving my remaining belongings in the Florida storage unit, and dear friends helped me avoid homelessness once I returned to Los Angeles. For the next three years, I worked hard, often struggling, to get back to work in television, and by 2019, had a busy year resembling my former life. This success wasn’t without frustrations, despite all my effort to get back to working, restoring confidence in my ability to do the job, I experienced rampant discrimination, companies I’d had great relationships suddenly unwilling to rehire me since I became disabled. Unfortunately, my condition contorted my spine, left me hunched and bent to the right. My lower right rib now touches my right hip. There’s no hiding it. One employer spent a year trying to fire me after I asked to bring in the wheelchair I need for long periods of sitting. Several put me into a status of “Do not call unless NO ONE else is available.” Yet another told me, flat out, in order to return to work, I had to agree to “no (handicap) accommodations, no special parking.” I tired of being rejected for work, and began using my free time launching and building my own project - a YouTube channel called Front Row Flynn, where I document, archive, and share film Q&A events, as well as premieres, and film festivals. The project began as a joke to many, but in two years, I developed the channel into a successful and popular resource. Sadly, the channel does not pay, and won’t for several more years, when I have many more subscribers. Meanwhile, all of my belongings are sitting in a storage unit in Florida. I’d hoped I would be busy enough with work once I returned, that I would be able to bring my things back quickly. For five years, I’ve survived through room sublets and friends’ guest rooms. I had to sell my car in 2017, and have used ride sharing to get around since. After getting back to work, I lost my Medi-cal coverage, but wasn’t making enough to afford insurance. My medications, out-of-pocket, cost me $700 every three months. Then came COVID-19. Being immunodeficient because of my biologic arthritic injections, I’ve been on self-quarantine since March 11, the last day at my job, which laid us all off with a promise to rehire us when the show returned in a couple of weeks. The show resumed, but they brought in someone else to do my job. My last job was gone. And my channel was now dead in the water, because COVID ended both Q&As and movies in general. I spent seven months trapped in a room, staring at four walls, going out four times for necessary errands. To make things worse, I had to deal with a psychotic roommate/landlord, who decided to throw me out in response to me calling him out for not changing the rolls of toilet paper. For four months, he repeatedly tried to toss me out into the street, in flagrant violations of the Eviction Moratoriums. He finally broke the shocking news he was moving out, had taken the smaller apartment upstairs/next door. But, he’s continued harassing me, demanding money, and telling me he’s keeping my security deposit. I elected to stay in the apartment, because going out to meet landlords puts me at high risk, but also the building landlord made me a good offer to keep the apartment for the price I’d pay for a studio. It’s my first time having my own place in five years, and I’m so grateful for getting this piece of my life back, but I’m also left needing a home’s worth of items, including furniture, and all the small items one might take for granted, like kitchen tools. I have many of the belongings I need sitting in the storage unit in Florida, but the reality is, after five years, I’m not going to get those items moved back without help. I’m on unemployment, and there is no work waiting for me, even when COVID goes away. I have to focus on getting my condition back in line also. The cash I’d held onto from unemployment is now all tied up in a huge security deposit the landlord required. So, I desperately need help, and plead for your assistance. Without the extended unemployment, I’m struggling to pay my rent. My phone is in danger of being turned off. I still need many of the day-to-day basic household items people take for granted. And imagine your whole life being packed in a 10x10 box, 3,000 miles away, and being helpless to get it back, while now needing everything in it to make a home functional. Your kindness can make that happen. Thank you so much for taking the time to read about my experience, and for any amount you can donate. I appreciate any help, truly. Stay safe, be well.