Anthony Needs Your Help to Overcome Injury

Hello, my name is Anthony, and if you know me at all, you know that my biggest passion is woodworking. For the past year, I have been pursuing my dream as a woodworking small business owner. On August 1st, I suffered a debilitating injury to my hand that has jeopardized this dream, and my ability to pay my bills for the foreseeable future.

While working on a recent project, a chisel cut through the workpiece and into my left hand, cutting through the index and middle fingers and severing the muscle and tendons, cutting nearly to the bone. Tendons control your muscle's abilities to bend and flex, meaning that severing those in my fingers rendered them un-moveable. It is a very scary feeling when your brain sends a signal to your body to move, and your body doesn't respond. And while it's sad to say, what scared me most at the time was that I have no medical insurance; I found myself crying during the triage process at the emergency room, telling the nurses I didn't know if they should treat me because I didn't think I could afford it.

While being your own boss has its benefits, it also has its drawbacks. As I already expressed, I don't have Medical insurance. My business is very new and I am not yet earning enough that I can pay my bills and afford luxuries - i.e. insurance. When you're a business of 1, you don't qualify for Disability insurance either. And while it may seem obvious - someone who can't afford health insurance doesn't have a financial safety net for when things go wrong.

The first emergency room I visited denied me care due to my lack of insurance, but referred me to a second facility. Even with a referral, it took 12 more days before I was able to meet with a surgeon, at which point a surgery to repair the tendons was scheduled a further 8 days in the future. The surgery was initially successful, but 9 days later I found myself unable to move my middle finger again - meaning the repaired tendons had popped apart. Sadly, this can only be remedied by another surgery, which is now scheduled for 3 weeks after the first surgery. And while surgery does fix the root cause of the problem, it does not mean my life returns to normal.

The recovery process from this surgery requires intense physical therapy, minimally twice a week, with gently exercising my fingers every waking hour of every day, lest I end up "with a claw rather than a hand", as one physician told me. And the recovery process takes 12 weeks, during which time I cannot use my hand for even the simplest of tasks or I risk popping the tendons and needing more surgeries. I can't lift anything. I can't tie my own shoes. I can't unscrew a pill bottle - of which I now have many. I can't get my hand wet for several weeks post-op, which means having someone else tie a bag around my arm to keep it dry whenever I shower. It means being in a protective cast 24/7. And it means that I can no longer work and financially support myself.

This injury happened August 1 and I won't be able to use my hand again until Thanksgiving, at the earliest. To date, I've been through 3 visits to the emergency room, 1 surgery, another surgery scheduled, mounting medical bills, and 4 months without any income. To work with your hands for a living, and to have that gift taken from you, is truly terrifying. But it is made much harder by the constant worry of whether or not I can afford to keep the lights on and pay my bills. While the hospital does have a financial assistance program, it does not cover everything, and I am receiving new bills for my various hospital visits on a weekly basis.

I have not always been good at asking for help in my life, but this is a time where I recognize that I need help and cannot get through this process on my own. If you are able to spread this message or make a donation, I will be eternally grateful. I have added a link to my website here: WoodWorking Chemist - if you would like to see my work and learn more about me and what I do.

Thank you so much for your time and care.

-Anthony