Hello, my name is Jim Salvaggio, and it is with great humility that I come here today asking you to help me and my family.  This is not something that is easy for me as I spent my life working hard, helping others where I would never ask for a thing in return, but 4 years ago, one moment changed my life forever as well as the lives of my wife and 3 children. 

Four years ago failing breaks caused an oversized moving truck to slide backwards at a red light into the front of my car.  I have since had 2 surgeries to a grand total of 3 fused vertebrae in my neck.  I am currently healing from a Thoracic Outlet surgery which took a conservative approach, taking out only a piece of one rib and clipping 2 of my scalene muscles (again, in my neck) instead of removing all 3 completely which is why I am now scheduled for another TOS surgery to remove the rib and scalene muscles completely.  It is believed that the rib may be growing back, intruding on my brachial nerve plexus and the scalene may have reattached somewhere it should not have, preventing my pain relief and possibly even increasing it and furthering my nerve damage.  On top of all this, once I have had some time to heal I will be heading in for a fifth surgery (3rd on my neck) to have 2 more vertebrae fused.  The goal of these surgeries are to hopefully alleviate the intense, unyielding chronic pain, but sadly the conditions will never be reversed or healed.  This is a lifetime battle I am facing.

My wife is my hero working full time to make sure that we have some income and health insurance.  She suffers from advance Rheumatoid Arthritis which can be quite painful in a flare up, but she pushes to take care of our family, as I sit and watch, helpless, unable to do anything to help.  With the new operations on the horizon, the bills, which have already been a struggle to stay up on, are now increasing again because of my needs and I am desperate to assist my family in some way and take some of the pressure off my amazing wife.

The main things I need are help paying for my prescriptions, co pays for my medical visits and some assistance with traveling to my doctors.  My condition is handled by few specialists so I must travel to see my doctor and to have my procedures.  My scheduled surgery date is September 13th, 2016. I will need to stay close to the operating hospital for a week after this surgery (it is major surgery so I need to be close in case of complications) and probably 3-5 nights when I have the 5th surgery.  There will also be expenses like gas, and food while we are out of town.  To add insult to injury, (pun intended) my truck just broke down. It needs a computer part and 2 tires so I can safely travel to my doctor appointments as well as taking my children to school, etc,  (one small way I have been able to help my family).  If we exceed our goal here, filling our pantry (and keeping it stocked) would go such a long way to easing the daily pressures. 

It has been a long struggle that has taken a toll on my entire family, both mentally and physically.  I know that times are tough all over and we all have our problems to deal with.  I have somehow been denied disability and social security, I can’t work at all, even doing the dishes causes me days of intense pain.  If after reading this, you can step in our shoes for just a moment you might realize how lucky you actually are.  I know it is a lot to ask but anything you can give will really help.  If you have no money to give perhaps you could try to share this with someone who might be able to help or post it on your Facebook page which might bring more donations to the cause.  One day, I hope to be able to donate to another family in need and continue the spirit of help, generosity and give hope to someone in need.  Chronic pain is said to be an invisible affliction, but as you can see it has serious consequences.  Thank you in advance for your generous donation.