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Help for my family
0% complete
$2,562 raised of $7K
27 donations
I am a single mother of 2 wonderful boys. I work full-time as well as go to school part-time. For the past 10 years it has been just my boys and myself, with their father only having minimal contact with them and only paying what the state makes him pay. We have made it through a lot but lately things have gotten extremely hard for our little family. In March of this year, my youngest son, Luke, was threatening to cut himself and/or kill himself. I took him to his primary care physician, because I didn't know what to do. They recommended for me to take him immediately to the emergency room, due to the fact that he had an actual visualized plan on how to end his life. After a long night in the emergency room, with evaluations by doctors, nurses, a therapist and psychologists, it was recommended that he be admitted into the behavioral health hospital day program for children. In the program he was officially diagnosed with and started treatment for depression, anxiety, and mood disorder. They started him on Zoloft to help with his depression and anxiety. He was unofficially diagnosed with ADHD (I have ADHD, his father has ADD, as well as other members of our family.) He spent a total of 4 weeks in the program. During that time I used all my vacation time and sick pay to get him settled in. While he was in the program, I desperately looked for a therapist, a psychiatrist and a place that would be able to do his neuropsychological evaluation, after he was discharged from the hospital. The behavioral health hospital wants him to have his cognitive function tested, his IQ tested, to be tested and officially diagnosed with ADHD, have sensory testing done as well as having him tested for Autism. I was turned away from many places due to our insurance and the ones that did accept the insurance had waiting lists ranging from 1 - 12 months. I was finally able to find a therapist, (that he is now seeing once a week), a psychiatrist, (that he will be starting to see as of next week), and a facility that can do his evaluation.
After a pre-evaluation with the neuropsychologist, to see if he would even be approved by the insurance, we were able to get partial approval for his evaluation. The insurance will only cover 8 points of the testing and the other 6 points will have to be paid for out of pocket. However, we are a paycheck to paycheck family. If I miss one day of work unpaid, money gets extremely tight. I try to take on side jobs, of pet sitting, when I can. But with me missing multiple days of work due to therapy, meetings with the hospital, his school and all his other medical bills starting to come in, we have fallen behind tremendously on the bills. I am desperately trying to keep my house out of foreclosure and make payment arrangements with Com Ed, so our electricity does not get turned off. When it rains it seems to pour, as the furnace in the house broke as well, and we have not had heat for the past 4 plus weeks. We do what we can with layers and space heaters, but that only increases the electric bill. But with money being as tight as it is, I have not had the extra funds to get it fixed. I am also trying to keep up the previous payment arrangements made with his orthodontist, because he is in need of a spacer for his upper jaw. He has a severe under bite in the back of his mouth. It needs to be corrected as soon as possible, in order to keep the amount of pain and discomfort down, as well as allow his upper jaw to spread and allign with his lower jaw. This is yet another item not covered by insurance, as they say it is a cosmetic procedure. But he cannot be eligible for his braces till his jaw is aligned. The spacer will cost $2,400.00. I also have to set up payment arrangements prior to his evaluation, to cover the remaining balance, that the insurance will not, which is $500.00. During this time, my car has needed repair as well. My parents have helped out a great deal, with ordering all the parts and paying for them up front and I will have to pay them back, when funds are available. I need new front tires, new brakes, shocks, struts and a new tie rod as well as an alignment, which added up to roughly $600.00 not including the rear tires or alignment. My Dad is doing a lot of the work for me, so I don't have to pay a mechanic, because he is a retired mechanic.
I was looking into a second job but with the amount of work I would be missing because of Luke’s doctor appointments and his "shut downs" (when he gets so overwhelmed he refuses to speak, make eye contact, or even move) I would not be able to keep a second job, as well as take care of my kids, work full time and go to school. The only one I have to watch Luke right now, is his older brother, Owen. Paying a sitter is not in the cards at this time. Owen has helped out a great deal, watching his brother while I work and go to school. But if Luke is sick and has to stay home, I have to take the day off of work, because he cannot be trusted home alone and not hurt himself. Some days are good and some days are bad. But we are trying to make it through all this one day at a time. I have held off on doing something like this because of my own personal pride. These are my children and I should be able to provide them with what they need. But right now I cannot no matter how hard I try. It is taking a toll on my family.
As of now Luke has a 504 plan in place at school, he is in a mentoring program, where he meets with his mentor once a week to talk about what is going on. He also goes to therapy once a week and will be seeing a psychiatrist once a month. Once his assessment is completed next month, we will have a better idea on where to go with further treatment for him. I am looking into being able to afford therapy for Owen first and myself last, as this has put a tremendous strain on both of us but right now the co-pays are not an option either. The state of my boys’ wellbeing is more important than mine. I am going to food pantries to help cut the costs of groceries, taking on every extra side job I can as well as working as many hours as I can at work.
I am attempting to raise $7,000.00, which would cover the cost of Luke's assessment, his spacer for his mouth, the repairs on the car, getting the furnace fixed, getting us out of foreclosure and get us current on the Com Ed bill. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. My children and I thank you very much for taking the time out to read our story and considering helping.
After a pre-evaluation with the neuropsychologist, to see if he would even be approved by the insurance, we were able to get partial approval for his evaluation. The insurance will only cover 8 points of the testing and the other 6 points will have to be paid for out of pocket. However, we are a paycheck to paycheck family. If I miss one day of work unpaid, money gets extremely tight. I try to take on side jobs, of pet sitting, when I can. But with me missing multiple days of work due to therapy, meetings with the hospital, his school and all his other medical bills starting to come in, we have fallen behind tremendously on the bills. I am desperately trying to keep my house out of foreclosure and make payment arrangements with Com Ed, so our electricity does not get turned off. When it rains it seems to pour, as the furnace in the house broke as well, and we have not had heat for the past 4 plus weeks. We do what we can with layers and space heaters, but that only increases the electric bill. But with money being as tight as it is, I have not had the extra funds to get it fixed. I am also trying to keep up the previous payment arrangements made with his orthodontist, because he is in need of a spacer for his upper jaw. He has a severe under bite in the back of his mouth. It needs to be corrected as soon as possible, in order to keep the amount of pain and discomfort down, as well as allow his upper jaw to spread and allign with his lower jaw. This is yet another item not covered by insurance, as they say it is a cosmetic procedure. But he cannot be eligible for his braces till his jaw is aligned. The spacer will cost $2,400.00. I also have to set up payment arrangements prior to his evaluation, to cover the remaining balance, that the insurance will not, which is $500.00. During this time, my car has needed repair as well. My parents have helped out a great deal, with ordering all the parts and paying for them up front and I will have to pay them back, when funds are available. I need new front tires, new brakes, shocks, struts and a new tie rod as well as an alignment, which added up to roughly $600.00 not including the rear tires or alignment. My Dad is doing a lot of the work for me, so I don't have to pay a mechanic, because he is a retired mechanic.
I was looking into a second job but with the amount of work I would be missing because of Luke’s doctor appointments and his "shut downs" (when he gets so overwhelmed he refuses to speak, make eye contact, or even move) I would not be able to keep a second job, as well as take care of my kids, work full time and go to school. The only one I have to watch Luke right now, is his older brother, Owen. Paying a sitter is not in the cards at this time. Owen has helped out a great deal, watching his brother while I work and go to school. But if Luke is sick and has to stay home, I have to take the day off of work, because he cannot be trusted home alone and not hurt himself. Some days are good and some days are bad. But we are trying to make it through all this one day at a time. I have held off on doing something like this because of my own personal pride. These are my children and I should be able to provide them with what they need. But right now I cannot no matter how hard I try. It is taking a toll on my family.
As of now Luke has a 504 plan in place at school, he is in a mentoring program, where he meets with his mentor once a week to talk about what is going on. He also goes to therapy once a week and will be seeing a psychiatrist once a month. Once his assessment is completed next month, we will have a better idea on where to go with further treatment for him. I am looking into being able to afford therapy for Owen first and myself last, as this has put a tremendous strain on both of us but right now the co-pays are not an option either. The state of my boys’ wellbeing is more important than mine. I am going to food pantries to help cut the costs of groceries, taking on every extra side job I can as well as working as many hours as I can at work.
I am attempting to raise $7,000.00, which would cover the cost of Luke's assessment, his spacer for his mouth, the repairs on the car, getting the furnace fixed, getting us out of foreclosure and get us current on the Com Ed bill. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. My children and I thank you very much for taking the time out to read our story and considering helping.