My name is Damien Perez. On Memorial Day, I had blown a hole in my bowel due to diverticulitis. In the proceeding days, I was given an emergency bowel reduction and fitted with a colostomy bag. I had just turned 50 about 10 days before, but this would change my life forever.

I'm now on the road to recovery, but because of my colostomy bag, I'm unable to work my job. And because I have a job, I cannot collect EDD disability because the doctor says I'm fit to return to work, which I can't work because of the stress it would put on my stoma (where my waste comes out) having to crouch up and down at a fast pace.

Now with not only hospital bills coming, but also my cost of living expenses and bills, I have been out of work since May 26, and the money I did receive from EDD for my first surgery already covered most of what I was attempting to catch up on. Now I wait for my reversal, so I can be "normal" or at least use the restroom and get back to, not only work, but life in general. It's hard to be in public and worried if I smell, or if I pass something; the sound is not only loud but embarrassing.