Hi, my name is Jan. Some of you know me. Most of you don't. This is a very hard note for me to write.

But I Need Help.

A month ago I unexpectedly lost my job in the middle of my cancer treatment.

I'm a Canadian living in the States. My residency in this country depends upon employment and without it, I'm merely a temporary visitor who needs to pack her stuff up and go home. So as soon as a job ends, the countdown begins for me to find a new one so that I don't have to sell my house and leave my 12 year old American son with his American dad to move back to Canada.

Here are my specific difficulties:

- I'm undergoing treatment for metastatic thyroid cancer and I still don't know what the next step(s) will be after this current one. I will probably get the lowdown in about a month, at which time I'll have a better idea of a logical employment start date.

- I no longer have health insurance for either myself or my son. I can apply for Medicaid for my kid, but because I'm neither a resident of the USA nor Canada, there's no safety net for me - I either have to pay large premiums through Cobra or pay for my care fully out of pocket. I still have $5000 deductible (plus various other health expenses) owing.

- I live alone in a house with my son. My husband and I have been separated for 3+ years and all household expenses and bills related to this house fall to me. Though he is supportive in other ways, financially my ex can't help - he's struggling to break even with his own construction business.

- As expected, times have been extremely lean since the separation. I was a general practice small animal associate veterinarian and we all know this position doesn't exactly make "the big bucks" (it's value to us is more altruistic). I have been managing to scrape by paycheck to paycheck but have not managed to build up any savings. This last month's mortgage just went out and I now have only $800 in the bank.

So things just got really scary.

I'm so sorry to ask (that's the Canadian in me), but ANY help ANYBODY can offer me towards our bills and food for the next couple of months would be life saving for my son and I. I can't wait to get over this little mountain of mine and get back to rocking it as a working mom.