Update on March 9th.

I'd like to again thank everyone who has donated to my fundraiser in the past couple of months -- you all have been so very helpful in allowing me to cover my bills during this time!

I still have needs to be met this month in March, so I am contacting more people who I may have missed to ask for their help earlier!

I’m 70 now. I had to quit working when I was 55, due to a severe case of the Shingles virus (Varicella zoster), which caused brain inflammation and development of various auto-immune symptoms with long-term chronic fatigue. At the time I had saved (a fair amount) for retirement. Had I been able to work another ten years I likely might have had an adequate amount to retire on, but because I had to retire early, my retirement funds were needed and depleted even before I reached 65.

Thank goodness for Social Security, but it hasn’t been enough to live on and I’ve leaned on my credit card for other things that are necessary for living, but aren’t met by my monthly payment. Even with careful, thrifty spending, after 15 years, I have maxxed out my credit card.

I am now humbly requesting your help to contribute to my fund, so I can begin to pay down my credit card balance as well as help with expenses that come up such as service and repair to my 19-year-old Honda, home and car insurance, and installation of a fence in my backyard, so I have a garden to grow some of my own food – I used to do this, but the deer population has grown so large that’s it’s become impossible to garden without a tall fence.

I’m fortunate to have a small house which I was able to pay off the mortgage a few years ago. But the house is 25 years old and there are appliances that need servicing or replaced, and a HVAC system that needs attention from time to time.

I’m hoping to live another ten years here in my home! I have almost gotten diabetes 2 in remission, and I’ve lost a lot of weight, so my health has improved somewhat, other than the chronic fatigue which causes me to sleep up to 12 hours at a time with no regularity to the sleep pattern at all.

I’m hoping that my request for donations will reach a lot of people, so that with maybe many donations of small amounts, I can get close to my goal of $10,000.

Thank you for considering this request.

Jan VandeVelde