Donate to Max's Urgent Medical Fund

Hey y'all. It’s Max. So, there are two reasons for this fundraiser. The first is: I’ve been suffering from Diverticulitis since 2022. I had my first flare in Feb of 2022 and was hospitalized with a perforated colon. About a year and a half later, I had another flare in August 2023. Since Aug 2023, I have had a diverticulitis flare every 2-3 months without fail (that’s 9 flares in less than 2 years). If you don’t know, diverticulitis is a very painful condition where pockets in the colon get infected and inflamed. It’s not curable, and the only real treatments are to eat a high fiber diet, exercise, take antibiotics in a flare, and if the colon is particularly diseased, then get it removed. That's where I am at — colon removal. I am scheduled to have a sigmoidectomy in the first week of June, so a little over a month from when I am writing this.

As some of y'all know, I also lost my job in November. I got laid off, and I’ve not had a stable, living wage since. I’ve been working as a substitute teacher since February, but the pay is very low and the school year ends on May 28 so I’ll be out of regular work/need to get a new job until August. Anyway, that means I don’t have money! Brody is covering literally ALL the bills, and their salary and my low wages don’t really actually cover everything. There’s just not enough gas in the tank.

So, I’m coming to y’all with an ask. The surgery is going to require at least $1100 in surgeon fees. The hospital has not let me know how much I’ll have to pay them yet for the hospital stay and the anesthesia. I’m aiming for this amount because it will at least pay the surgeon fees I have to pay before I can actually have surgery. The due date is June 2nd.

I’m also asking for this much because I have a $700 medical bill from the ER from January because I began having a flare on a weekend, it was very painful, and it requires imaging to rule out complications that can only be accessed in the ER or during the week. And with the amount of times I’ve had it, the risk for a complication increases with every incidence, so I had no real choice except to go to the ER. I also have another $700 medical bill from a second flare that just happened! So I’m just trying to pay that down so the hospital will let me have surgery and so I’m not growing in medical debt. But that’s another $1400 in debt I cannot pay right now. This puts the rough total at 2500, with an extra $500 I’m trying to raise to cover platform fees and taxes. It won’t even cover what the hospital asks for.

I hope this all makes sense. The long and short of it is that even with pretty good insurance and one real salary in our household, real, life-altering medical care will be out of my reach if I cannot raise these funds. I hope that you can help, either by sharing the fundraiser or donating a few dollars. Whatever you do, I appreciate it. Thank you for reading.