Aid My Family’s Journey to Stability and Health
Donation protected
Hey gang. As many of you know, I have been struggling with a debilitating chronic pain flare since January, which has required a lot of expensive tests, many not covered by insurance, and a bunch of grief and trauma therapy to deal with the PTSD flares triggered by frequent exposure to doctors, tests, and hospital settings.
On top of that, the accumulating debt of my being underemployed since 2024 and unemployed for a year before that—despite over 800 applications for jobs I’m fully qualified to do—is getting to the point that we are concerned about losing our house. I’ve also dealt with the death of one of my closest friends and my mother within a 5-month period, so there are days when even getting out of bed is incredibly difficult.
Needless to say, it’s…a lot. And pushing myself to work while dealing with debilitating anxiety and depression in addition to the usual level of physical disability issues from muscular dystrophy and PTSD with a wide range of severe medical triggers is placing me at risk of a neurlogical shutdown, which in turn places my part-time freelance work, which I have fought tooth and nail to obtain and hang on to, in jeopardy.
Will be using any funds to pay for:
- Keeping our insurance (~$800 a month for my “discounted” marketplace plan).
- Covering therapy and support for PTSD and grief.
- Settling my mom’s estate (lawyer fees, coordinating accessible travel as a disabled person, real estate sale fees, etc.) so my access to financial support improves and I can become more financially independent, give my nervous system some rest, and go back to helping support others again.
- Finding a part-time organizer/cleaner/helper for cleaning, organizing, food prep, and errands support because my body can’t handle it and it’s too much for my partner to handle, as he works 50+ hours a week in a physically demanding and dangerous job to help keep us afloat.
- Paying down credit card debt from medical expenses and unavoidable home repairs/upkeep, such as a chimney leak that could have caused a black mold problem and a badly wind-damaged fence that’s creating issues with neighbors.
- Catching up on utility bills.
- Scheduling vet care for my support animals.
Many, many thanks. I feel so weird and embarrassed about having to ask, but stuff is Not Good right now. I do expect my financial picture to significantly change for the better within 6 months, and fully intend to pay it forward (or back, or to a cause we mutually support) but surviving to that point without losing health insurance and housing will be very hard without some help.
Thanks and hugs,
Diana
Co-organizers (1)
Diana Barnes-Brown
Organizer
Portland, OR
Paul Oseth
Co-organizer