I am trying my best here. This is a last-ditch effort, I guess. I lost my family; I tried not to. I tried really hard to stop this from happening in the first place. But here I am.

In August, I started working at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I worked for the physical therapy department. I worked out of Top Shape Gym off Edgewood Rd in Cedar Rapids. When I started, I noticed the rooms we used were extremely hot and humid. They also had this foul smell. We had a provider that was going to be out of the office, so I asked permission from my boss to ignore our phones and clean the room. Funny enough, when cleaning this room out, the things I found were not nice: a family of dead shrews and mold... lots of mold. I cleaned out the room and made sure to clear the mold. I also found literally an inch of dust on top of the cabinets.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I contacted my boss and asked if I needed to send pics, and no, she didn’t. She then asked why I cleaned it. I reminded her that I had asked for permission and that the room clearly needed it. I asked her what the plan would be; I asked if the hospital would get someone or if it was going to be me now. She was mad that Top Shape was not cleaning the room well enough. I told her that they do not clean any of the rooms or any of our space. She reached out to the owners, and sure enough, Mercy had to clean up after ourselves. It then fell to me. I didn’t mind; I wanted our space cleaned right after all. My next request was made 6 times... I asked for proper cleaning equipment. Nope, use what you have is the answer I got.

I spent a whole afternoon trying to get our vacuum cleaner to work correctly. After 3 hours, I was able to find the clog and got it working right. Sadly, our equipment was never locked up. Someone else used our vacuum and damaged the cord badly. I didn’t know this. Next time I went to vacuum, I started feeling not so good; my head was rushing, my heart was pounding, I was sweating horribly. I thought maybe I was having a heart attack, but I figured out quickly that both of my hands were clamped. I was getting shocked...

Sadly, at this point, it's been almost 1000 days since I got hurt. I still have not been paid out for workers' comp. Mercy has made false claims and has used every tactic to stall getting me help. At this point, I am writing this out of a hotel and not able to find a new home. My credit is shot, and I have been evicted from my home. Before the eviction, I thought I had a place for my wife, our cats, and myself to all go. I have tried everything to stop all of this from happening.

I asked Iowa Legal Aid to help so many times! Nothing. 4 lawyers for 6 counties.

I asked the deed holder to please give us 30 days.

I contacted the law firm. The lawyer went on leave after talking to me until after the eviction was carried out.

I am at the point where I am scrambling to get my cats back. They were taken away from us, and we are being told the only way for us to get them back is to have our own place.

That’s why I am here. I am asking to please help us. We just want our family back together again and not have to panic we are going to lose them all over again.

We have to buy our own place. Please help!!!!