My name is Andrej. I'm broke, unemployed and chronically ill (long COVID), and my older sister is also unemployed and disabled due to medical malpractice. She has been dealing with severe chronic back pain since 2021, when she started having sudden and horrific back pain, hip pain and right leg pain, to the point where she was incapable of moving. Her general doctor gave her painkillers that barely worked; the PT she tried didn't work, either, and other doctors ignored her or refused to take her seriously. We live in Serbia, where it's a struggle to set foot in the exam rooms of free public doctors, because the wait times are notoriously bad, so we were forced to seek treatment in private clinics unless we wanted to wait months for an exam.

On top of that, I've been going through personal hell with getting anyone to take my own diagnosis seriously. Our parents are dealing with a lot of family drama and financial problems, which are of course also OUR problems, and have given up on my sister because it's “her problem." So most of the burden of paying the medical bills falls on my shoulders, and when I couldn't afford something I was forced to take the ebegging/crowdfunding route or borrow from friends. Repeatedly. It has been a truly exhausting 4 years. Right now we are stuck living with our grandmother who has threatened to kick us out or make us pay rent.

My goal is to have enough money to be able afford: all her meds for a year, PT, her future exams, my future exams, and some financial security in case my grandmother does kick us out. Because we live in Serbia, funds will be routed through my friend Max, who lives in the states.