Getting Back On My Feet -- Literally

Hello everyone.

I'm Jon, and I've been dealing with some extra hardships this year, both financial and physical.

As we all know, the country is facing COVID right now, which means that any and all donations will be appreciated all the more.

Due to COVID, much of the country's bars and restaurants were shut down for a time back in March, and I found myself out of work for about two months.

Come May, we were called back to work, but on May 6th, the week before I was to go back to work, I had an accident riding an electric skateboard and messed up my foot pretty bad.

Long story short, I had an avulsion fracture of the calcaneus bone, in which my anterior talofibular ligament actually pulled a piece of bone right off my ankle as the ligament strained. At the same time, it pulled a nerve out of place, and I also ruptured my calcaneal fibular ligament, apparently a long rupture that needed to be sutured up all along it's length.

This happened on May 6th, and the next week I had to go back to work. For the cost of $150 I attained a knee crutch that allowed me to continue working to a limited degree. Due to the pain of the injury and strength needed to operate on one leg, I had to go down to about 1/3 of my normal working hours. The foot doctor had actually instructed me not to be working during this time, but I needed to support myself and my dogs, and I tried to do what I could.

Before all this, I was the Assistant Manager and one of the bartenders at a place called Urban Pie. Once the hours I could work dropped, my job as Assistant Manager was unfortunately given to somebody else who was more able to perform the duties required.

I was finally able to get into surgery on August 21st, but lucky for me, my car decided to need a $750 repair a week or two before this, just to add a little more financial hardship.

So my income by this point is down to 1/3rd of my normal amount. At the time, the COVID stimulus money was still coming in. But the thing about collecting unemployment is, you have to be ABLE to work to collect it. Once I had surgery, the doctor said absolutely no working for at least 10 weeks, potentially more. During this time, I did not qualify for disability, and I didn't qualify for unemployment. So on August 21st, I no longer had income from my job or from any government assistance.

Fast forward to a week ago, I've been in physical therapy and things had been progressing, until one night when I reinjured my ankle, taking a simple step at home. I sprained my Achilles tendon with possible micro-ruptures, and my foot doctor told me no more walking for another 4 weeks. So here I am, waiting to get back into physical therapy in a week or two.

Now for the reason I'm requesting assistance. This has obviously been a large burden. I can't begin to describe how frustrating and debilitating it is to lose the use of your foot for 6+ months, and anyone who has been in my situation I'm sure can relate. The hospital bill is SUBSTANTIAL, and as you've just read, I haven't been able to work. I've been living off of savings I was fortunate enough to have, but full disclosure, my monthly bills are between $1200-1300, what with rent, utilities, insurance, student loans, car payments, caring for my dogs, etc. And even though insurance helped me a lot with the surgery, I'm still facing a hospital bill of $5,622 that I need to pay myself, after not having worked for a couple months. There was also a deposit of $2,500 that needed to be paid BEFORE I had surgery.

So now I gratefully come to you, my friends, neighbors, family, acquaintances, and good people of the internet, to humbly ask for your help. I have received my hospital bill, and it stressed me out enough to shelve my pride and embarrassment and put myself out there to tell you, I'm worried about what this hospital bill is going to do to my financial situation. I plan to set up a payment plan, but after burning through my savings and not being able to work for so long, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried.

Now again, I know we've all  seen hard times in this country this year. Don't feel obligated to donate, but know that if you do, your donation will be going towards both my hospital bill and my and my dog's livelihood, and it will be appreciated beyond words.

So thank you very much for reading my story, and if you're feeling generous, leave a buck, give this a share, or even just drop an encouraging word. Kindness is valuable currency in this country.