
Help Peg Urgent Bills & Winter Emergency- Cancer
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Hi, my name is Peg Moore-Maiorello, from Bronx, NY and I am raising funds for urgent utility and home repairs so that I can recover at home from cancer surgery in two weeks. We have an immediate shut-off notice for electricity and gas so I will come home to no electricity or heat, and a broken furnace that cannot be repaired. No way to cook for ourselves. The morning temperatures will be near freezing during my 6-8 week recovery. We also need a roof replacement immediately to get us through winter. This month more serious damage occurred and there are multiple leaks. The plumbing in the main kitchens and bathrooms broke and they cannot be used. Most of our major appliances broke this year,too (they were replaced).
How did things get this way? This year my husband reached retirement age of 66.5 and lost his long-term disability insurance of $4.600.00 per month he's been receiving since 2007 ended, so we are short $41.000.00 for 2023. Since he got sick at 50, he does not have full Social Security. I have not had full-time employment during treatment for cancer, but I'm recovering well and the trial overall is going well. The upcoming cancer surgery looks very good and doctors are optimistic. I feel like I will be able to put this behind me, and confident that I will get employment, I can't recover properly in a freezing home and we don't have anywhere else to go.
Beginning in late 2019 we had serious storm damage to the roof and due to the pandemic lockdown we had difficulty getting inspectors and repairs,
At the same time, my husband had a complete psychotic break due to a long illness and I needed to leave our home. I got a bed on the last day before lockdown. He became disabled in 2007 while working as an engineer on a Homeland Security job. He had fevers of 104 every 7-10 days for over 4.5 years. It left him with serious neurological issues and he began to suffer breakdowns. The authorities told me that they would care for him working with me but they resisted him going to a psych hospital because of COVID-19. He was finally admitted to a hospital a year later, where they said he wasn't responsible for 90% of what he was doing. In March 2020 when I had to leave, our bills were current, but over time other things happened. In June of 2021, I had to go to the psych hospital to tell my husband that I had cancer. There was only one treatment for this cancer and I was accepted in a clinical trial with chemotherapy and radiation. During my chemotherapy, we had historic flooding in NYC and I had to file two insurance claims which were paid, but the cost of clean-up exceeded the insurance payments. They brought in huge dehumidifiers and equipment to dry it out which used hundreds of dollars in electricity. Our water heater broke in a freak accident, again having to do full water clean-up and electric usage. That treatment is going well and is thought to have been successful but a second cancer developed in another area. I will have surgery in 10 days and possible chemotherapy following but the doctors are optimistic and even used the words cure. I am confident that I can put this behind me and get to work full-time with your help for my immediate repairs.
The most urgent funds: are $4,000 to avoid turn-off of utilities and $9,800.00 for a new furnace- installed, but we are asking for a total of $50,000.00 to make repairs to get us through the winter. Although I do not have money for post-surgical supplies and medicine, I am only asking for the home repairs. We both have outstanding medical bills but feel that I can work that out if I can get the home situation stable. We have applied for grants that help homeowners do repairs but may not have that money before the temperatures freeze and work can't be done. The roof is $10,000, plumbing repairs are about $5.000.00. Damage to our home from the original 2019 storm incident caused other problems leading to flooding in our basement. An attorney is needed at $8,000 to address some of the problems related to the roof damage in 2019. Recently, our home insurer canceled us due to the two "Act of God" storms, but we were grateful to get another policy. If we don't have the main repairs we will have an extremely difficult time this winter and have nowhere else to go. This is my husband's childhood home which we purchased 21 years ago and worked hard to keep. I will definitely give an accounting for all funds donated and share the work in progress.
-$4,000.00 (part of $18.600.00 total owed) to avoid utility turn off
-$9,800.00 for a new furnace, including installation by Yost & Campbell who gave us an estimate.
-$10,000.00 for a new flat roof. I've had an estimation earlier in the year.
-$5,000.00 for plumbing repairs in bathrooms and kitchen.
-$6.000.00 for replacement of interior and exterior doors.
-$3,000.00 for repair of ceiling damage.
-$10,000.00 to replace damage to walls & windows.
-$2,200.00 for 2019 legal issues with the insurance company (this may be more, but it will get us started).
Organizer
Peg Moore
Organizer
New York, NY