This is for me and my father, to get ahead of our monthly bills.

In 2022, my father started suffering from frontotemporal dementia. He was diagnosed in the summer of 2023 and around the same time was put on medication to control his angry outbursts. That made it possible to live with him without fearing for my life. Since then, I have worked to reduce his falls that he experienced several of during 2023. Through the use of smart home tech, I almost eliminated his falls with only 3 recent falls in June of 2025, where I fell and either fell into him or he fell trying to help me up. His condition has not worsened any, and he is strictly on maintenance visits with his doctors every six months or so.

On to me. In 2024, I started experiencing symptoms that have progressively gotten worse over the last year. I have not gotten a diagnosis for those symptoms yet, but I've gone through much testing to try to reach a diagnosis. I've gone through four MRIs, an EMG, and a nerve conduction test, as well as a bunch of blood work.

Those symptoms have greatly affected my computer work, which was the core of my career before I became my father's caregiver. Right now, I can only type with my left hand. My right hand can barely grip my mouse, and I frequently mis-click right and left mouse buttons. Grip strength of my right hand is minimal now, and my left hand is showing signs that it is also losing grip strength. Because of this, a lot of the time I'm using voice dictation, as I'm doing now.

Because this affects my ability to work, I cannot continue with my career as a computer programmer at anywhere near the same level. For that reason, I'm filing for disability. The problem with that is they need a diagnosis. So that's been delayed as I wait for a diagnosis.

In the meantime, our finances are tight. We just paid the summer property taxes on the home my dad owns, and it is extremely tight this month of September. Whatever you can give will help us get through this time period while I wait for my diagnosis and the chance to get my disability started. The amount is based on my personal Social Security report and what I would get from Disability.