Hi, my name is Paul Alan Jacobs. I am 52 years old and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis on January 16th, 2016, while recovering at Cedars-Sinai from a full cervical fusion from C2-C7 and a laminectomy of L3-L4. Needless to say, it was quite a blow to know that the symptoms, losing the use of the left side of my body, were caused by an intense MS attack and not my spinal stenosis, which runs in the family.

I worked very hard to be able to walk again, but it was difficult to determine whether what was caused by the MS or just part of the healing process from the surgery. After about 6 months of intense PT and OT, I got back to my business, P.J. Metal Worx, where I was a metal fabricator and was doing what I love.

I went from a diagnosis of RRMS (Remitting, Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis) to SPMS (Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis), which lent itself to me having to stop fabricating and which in turn led to the closure of my company at the end of 2021. I decided to open up a consulting company, Infunction Design Group, where I was able to stay in a trade that I truly love. I functioned as a mediator between my clients, who I have worked with for decades, and metal fabrication shops I knew. For this service, I would receive 10% of the total job and would be a part of the process from beginning to end, ensuring that my clients would get what they paid for and came to expect from me.

Unfortunately, I pivoted to the wrong company for a project I had been looking over for at least two years with my oldest and best client of 24 years. In July of last year, I began to get weaker and weaker and was unable to perform during the hours I was expected to so they let me go in November. All the while we were dealing with my wife finding a mushroom coming out of our kitchen ceiling in September. We were not surprised but were very concerned because we have had a major water intrusion problem for over a decade, and our management company supposedly fixed it back in 2015. We immediately contacted our management company and informed them of the situation. Not only did they ignore the letter from my neurologist about the medical necessity to have a walk-in shower installed in our upstairs bathroom and a 1/2 bathroom installed downstairs like the other 4 units in our building, they did not take the obvious fungal/mold issue seriously. They left us hanging for 5 months until we called and made a complaint to the housing and health department, involved our good friend who is an attorney, started to withhold rent in January, and had our own mold test done because they refused to show us the results of theirs. Ours came back with extremely high levels of stachybotrys (toxic black mold). That got their attention, and they moved us to an empty unit and after a month got started on the remodel. The stress of this, combined with being pushed out of the job I brought to that company, led to my symptoms worsening.

In December, I applied for SSDI and SSI. I had never been in a situation like this, and it destroyed me. I lost my bank accounts in January and was getting weaker and weaker seemingly every day. In February, I saw my neurologist, and she suggested that I go to the ER to start a round of steroid infusions. I was admitted to St. John's to continue the steroid and get control of my pain. After a week in the hospital, I was fortunate enough to be transferred to a fantastic inpatient rehab, CRI (California Rehabilitation Institute), which is a joint venture between Cedars-Sinai and UCLA, and where I met the most impressive doctor, who is still my doctor and, in knowing my situation, has been seeing me in spite of not taking my insurance. DR. Seth Herman is the I have ever had the pleasure to meet and to be cared for by.

I was there for 2 1/2 weeks, was taken care of by very talented PTs and OTs, was learning how to use a wheelchair, and got better to the point where I could go home. I was under the impression that I had home health and an order for a wheelchair set up for me and would be waiting for me when I got home, but it was not. I fell deep into depression and couldn't do anything.

On September 18th, I found out that they denied my SSDI and my SSI and just fell apart and literally fell several times, badly injuring my knees, shoulder, neck, ribs, and head. The next day, I was back in the ER at St. John's and was admitted. I had a great neurologist, Dr. Yarema, who ordered MRIs of my brain, cervical, thoracic, and lumbar with and without contrast. He looked over them with his colleague, Dr. Khosla, who is a very talented neurosurgeon, and explained that he could help reduce my lower back pain by performing a revised laminectomy from L2-L4, and without hesitation, I agreed. The surgery was a great success, and I was recovering in the hospital for about a week and was visited by Dr. Herman nearly every day. We tried to get me back into CRI but could not because I am now on Medi-Cal. I was admitted to St. Joseph's acute rehab in Burbank, where I am getting great care and continue to improve. Although I would like to stay longer, they have me scheduled to be discharged this Friday.

My apartment should be ready to start moving back into next week, but I won't be able to pay the rent, and it would destroy me to lose my rent-controlled apartment in Venice because I have been there since 2009, and my wife, who has basically been my caretaker for the last couple of years, moved in with me in 2014. I am hoping that anybody who reads this is inclined to donate anything they can to help me continue my therapy and get me back on my feet so that my wife and I can avoid being evicted and allow us to get back to being creative and be able to concentrate on our own self improvements to

inspire one another again. I am very optimistic about the future and hope to be out of this mess soon.. I really appreciate any help you can give. Thanks for taking the time to read my story....