Trying to Start Over
Donation protected
Hello friends, family, cohorts, compadres, and everything in between. It is with a great deal of embarrassment, shame, and trepidation that I'm doing this, but I've exhausted all my other options. This is my last resort.
Many of you may not know this, but for a number of years I struggled with alcoholism. It was a very trying time for me, my body, and my spirit. It was also very difficult for my my family and loved ones. This battle had many casualties, it cost me my health, my job, my home, and eventually many loved ones. I entered treatment in January of 2014 at Haymarket Center. I completed 3 programs during my stay there, and have just celebrated 4 years without a drink on December 28th.
Unfortunately this was only the beginning of a much larger and more difficult war. The drinking and its peripheral damage has led to many health issues. I now suffer from chronic pancreatitis, brittle (near uncontrollable) diabetes, and severe depression and anxiety. I had to have my right shoulder rebuilt almost immediately after leaving Haymarket; that took a 9 month recovery process. I nearly lost my hand to something called compartment syndrome. This required the most painful surgery ortho can perform. 3 Ocular surgeries were required to try to save the vision in my right eye (partially successful). And most recently had to have 2 surgeries to amputate part of my right foot, leaving me disabled (I recently moved from a wheelchair to a cane because my wheelchair was stolen at knife point). 3 days before Christmas I suffered a stroke while in an alley resting, no one found me for 4 days. I had no food, no water, was suffering from Bell's palsy, exposure, and eventually frostbite. It took almost 3 weeks to regain use of my legs. All of this while living on the street. I'm forced to walk the streets carrying everything I own, 1-2 sets of clothes, any medicine I can get/keep, and any food I can acquire from day-to-day. I have had to bounce from shelter to shelter to street (I now sleep on trains) while enduring thefts (of belongings and medicines and supplies), beatings (multiple have put me in the hospital with stitches and broken bones), and countless other dehumanizing humiliations.
During this time, I have used every resource available to attempt to acquire work (day-labor, temp, part time), housing, and any other assistance I could find. Some things worked for a brief time, but many others were dead ends for me. With all that has happened, I know that I can most likely qualify for disability. I've started procedures to get that process started, but it is long (multiple years) and intensive, and I'm not sure I can keep living this way for that much longer. The toll on my body and my spirit is just too great.
So that brings me to the here and now. I am asking, pleading, begging for your help to aid me in starting over. I'm trying to find a light at the end of this long dark tunnel I've been travelling. I have put together a plan.
Hopefully, with help, I can rent a room for a few months. This will provide me with a home base, safety, and a sense of security. My goal here is to secure funds for rent, a phone, and transportation. I will use clothing drives, food pantries, food stamps (if I can re-qualify), and any/all other resources in addition to any funds I can raise. During this period I hope to acquire some form of part time employment. 3 major obstacles to this have been not having an address, phone, or clothes for interviewing/working. Finding work with my new set of limitations will be difficult, but I'm sure with this new set of resources and my determination, I can find something. This something will be a springboard for my rebuild. I've got to start from the ground up, and I'm asking help laying a foundation.
I know that none of you have heard a peep from me in years, and this is why. I also know that all of you have your own lives/families/needs/wants/dreams, and don't have a dime to spare. I understand and appreciate you taking the time to read this. But if there is any way anyone can spare anything, pennies, nickles, dimes, bucks, it would help me immensely. Depending on what kind of living situation I can find, things may be more costly than this goal, but I'm just trying to find a starting point. I'm trying to raise these funds as soon as possible, obviously every night on the street is a risk and a gamble. Like I said, I just need help getting back on my feet. I'm trying to save my life, but I unfortunately can't do it by myself. If you think you may know anyone else willing/able/sympathetic enough to help, please pass this along.
Thank you all for your time. I love all of you guys, and hope that you're all awash in health, happiness, and prosperity.
James "Jamer" Cosentino
Many of you may not know this, but for a number of years I struggled with alcoholism. It was a very trying time for me, my body, and my spirit. It was also very difficult for my my family and loved ones. This battle had many casualties, it cost me my health, my job, my home, and eventually many loved ones. I entered treatment in January of 2014 at Haymarket Center. I completed 3 programs during my stay there, and have just celebrated 4 years without a drink on December 28th.
Unfortunately this was only the beginning of a much larger and more difficult war. The drinking and its peripheral damage has led to many health issues. I now suffer from chronic pancreatitis, brittle (near uncontrollable) diabetes, and severe depression and anxiety. I had to have my right shoulder rebuilt almost immediately after leaving Haymarket; that took a 9 month recovery process. I nearly lost my hand to something called compartment syndrome. This required the most painful surgery ortho can perform. 3 Ocular surgeries were required to try to save the vision in my right eye (partially successful). And most recently had to have 2 surgeries to amputate part of my right foot, leaving me disabled (I recently moved from a wheelchair to a cane because my wheelchair was stolen at knife point). 3 days before Christmas I suffered a stroke while in an alley resting, no one found me for 4 days. I had no food, no water, was suffering from Bell's palsy, exposure, and eventually frostbite. It took almost 3 weeks to regain use of my legs. All of this while living on the street. I'm forced to walk the streets carrying everything I own, 1-2 sets of clothes, any medicine I can get/keep, and any food I can acquire from day-to-day. I have had to bounce from shelter to shelter to street (I now sleep on trains) while enduring thefts (of belongings and medicines and supplies), beatings (multiple have put me in the hospital with stitches and broken bones), and countless other dehumanizing humiliations.
During this time, I have used every resource available to attempt to acquire work (day-labor, temp, part time), housing, and any other assistance I could find. Some things worked for a brief time, but many others were dead ends for me. With all that has happened, I know that I can most likely qualify for disability. I've started procedures to get that process started, but it is long (multiple years) and intensive, and I'm not sure I can keep living this way for that much longer. The toll on my body and my spirit is just too great.
So that brings me to the here and now. I am asking, pleading, begging for your help to aid me in starting over. I'm trying to find a light at the end of this long dark tunnel I've been travelling. I have put together a plan.
Hopefully, with help, I can rent a room for a few months. This will provide me with a home base, safety, and a sense of security. My goal here is to secure funds for rent, a phone, and transportation. I will use clothing drives, food pantries, food stamps (if I can re-qualify), and any/all other resources in addition to any funds I can raise. During this period I hope to acquire some form of part time employment. 3 major obstacles to this have been not having an address, phone, or clothes for interviewing/working. Finding work with my new set of limitations will be difficult, but I'm sure with this new set of resources and my determination, I can find something. This something will be a springboard for my rebuild. I've got to start from the ground up, and I'm asking help laying a foundation.
I know that none of you have heard a peep from me in years, and this is why. I also know that all of you have your own lives/families/needs/wants/dreams, and don't have a dime to spare. I understand and appreciate you taking the time to read this. But if there is any way anyone can spare anything, pennies, nickles, dimes, bucks, it would help me immensely. Depending on what kind of living situation I can find, things may be more costly than this goal, but I'm just trying to find a starting point. I'm trying to raise these funds as soon as possible, obviously every night on the street is a risk and a gamble. Like I said, I just need help getting back on my feet. I'm trying to save my life, but I unfortunately can't do it by myself. If you think you may know anyone else willing/able/sympathetic enough to help, please pass this along.
Thank you all for your time. I love all of you guys, and hope that you're all awash in health, happiness, and prosperity.
James "Jamer" Cosentino
Organizer
James Cosentino
Organizer
Chicago, IL