EDIT: I am currently not able to pull out a loan this time due to my credit being very young, and paying off another small loan I made roughly 4 months ago.

TL;DR version - My long time tinnitus has been severely exacerbated to a point where I feel like I cannot go on, The hearing aids I was able to try on during my audiology appointment helped me so much, but they are 1,800 and I'm not able to pay for them on time due to being off work for a month in order to cope with my problem and seek medical help. Please consider donating to save my well-being. Thank you so much.

Hello there. My name is Roberto Irizarry, I have been battling the horrible screeching sound in my head known as tinnitus for about 10 years due to a blunt force injury and a severe ear infection that started it all. During the early stages of my condition, it was tolerable enough to let it fade into the background with most day-to-day noise.

However, excessive sporadic noise exposure has been the bane of my existance. I have encountered truck horns sounding next to me, ladders collapsing, loud people at crowds in events that I didn't think would affect me as much as it did, glass bottles crashing next to my ear, unexpectedly loud intercom announcements, heck even being SLAPPED in the ears unintentionally. I almost felt convinced that the world was out to get my ears, and I became fearful of going outside, but I have to encounter it almost every day to keep my house by going to work. I have now developed a new symptom with my tinnitus within the last 2 months, being hyperacusis. For those who are not familiar, it means that I have now reached a permanent increased sensitivity to noises where moderate noises like closing doors, placing plates and bowls on tables, or any other direct collision that most people dont think about being loud, are now loud to me, and can send me into a chronic ear pain attack that can take hours to compose myself.

As we catch up to present day, the current form of my tinnitus is haunting my well-being on a daily basis. I am only 20 years old and it is honestly starting to become quite difficult imagining the rest of my life with this chaotic disease. The ringing has become so incredibly loud and high-pitched that I feel like I can't even function as a human being anymore.

Recently, I went to the UCSF Audiology Center where I had a counseling session and was able to try on Tinnitus masking hearing aids. At the start of the appointment, it was really obvious how discomforted I was to the doctors, as when they closed the doors, I immediately told them that it was too quiet in the room and the ringing was just eating away at me. We talked for about an hour and then they placed the trial hearing aids in my ears and  It was an immediate break from the terrible exacerbated ringing I have been experiencing for the last 3 months. I was able to talk to the doctor normally and keep track of the conversation again. It was very satisfying and I almost broke into tears.

Now the real challenge has been thrown my way. The hearing aids are $1800, and I have went through all of my savings because I was on medical leave of absence for a month, and the hearing aids will be ready by September 21st. This is the part where I am sincerely asking for anyone to help. I don't have the funds to cover the cost by the 21st and I really need them as soon as possible to function as a contributing member in society again, and more importantly, as a human-being. Absolutely any donation you are able to offer is appreciated.

Thank you for your time.