Hi, my name is Lilliane and I am fundraising for my roommate Cat, who is going through a rather rough time.

Cat is one of the hardest workers I know and has always been a hard worker and was a manager in the food industry and doing very well for herself. Even during COVID-19, Cat continued to work after the two-week shutdown. However, in 2021, Cat started to have unusual symptoms that made it impossible for her to do her job. She found she was incredibly dizzy, even to the point of accidentally burning her arm in the fryer at work. Thankfully, the fryer wasn’t grease-filled that time, but it was still on, and she caught herself falling into the fryer which injured her.

Alongside that, while doing paperwork, she had a computer server that was placed on a shelf above a desk fall and hit her straight-on in the head. This sent her to a Worker’s Comp doctor where it was found out she had sustained a concussion from the incident.

Cat started becoming increasingly dizzy at work and home and there were days when she was unable to drive herself to work, so I would take her in and pick her up. Even with the dizziness, Cat continued to work through the dizziness during the pandemic. Eventually, however, things became even more difficult for her, so she had to step away from her job to try and figure out what was going on. She went to her PCP and was referred to specialists, and eventually, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Fortunately, as far as the doctors can tell, the tumor is benign, however, Cat must now take medication twice a week to keep the tumor’s growth controlled. After a year and earlier this year, her doctor took her off of the medication and the tumor grew exponentially in size, so he put her back on a course of medication for a minimum of 5 years. The medication, even with insurance, costs $30.00 for a 90-day supply.

Even with the medication to help control the tumor, Cat still found herself impacted by the side effects of having a benign brain tumor. She had extreme sleepiness and attention difficulties which led to her being prescribed Vyvanse to try and help. Once her body adjusted to the new drug, it worked rather well. Even with the insurance, the cost has been right around $36.00 a month.

Cat eventually gave up the manager job because of all the symptoms she was having and took up a job online. It was decent pay and was giving her between 15 and 20 hours of work each week. She also applied for disability as it was becoming more obvious that she wouldn't be able to take on a traditional job. After nearly 18 months her disability was denied, and it is currently in its first appeal process.

Along with all of the above, Cat also had to have emergency surgery to remove her gallbladder in 2022. The surgeon described Cat’s gallbladder as “cemented” against her liver and other organs. During the time of surgery, she was uninsured, and while the hospital gave her a fairly sizable discount Cat still owes $18K for the hospital portion of the bill.

While it’s been a struggle to pay for everything each month, we’ve been able to pay for everything up until 2 months ago.

Her health insurance company for 2023 suddenly went out of business and a new one had to be found on the Marketplace. The cost of the new insurance increased by $45 per month, and while the least expensive insurance claimed to cover all her specialist visits and prescriptions, we found out that was not the case.

We went back and forth with the insurance and pharmacies and found out that the plan wasn’t exactly as it had been represented which caused her Vyvanse prescription to initially be denied. Eventually, we were able to have the Vyvanse approved, however, the copay is now $50.00.

The increase in Cat’s insurance premium, insurance copays for prescriptions and doctor appointments is currently unattainable because of how much power, food, gasoline costs, and the medical debt from past and current appointments.

Cat has been off the Vyvanse for nearly a month now and the effects are profound. No energy, sleeping more than 12 hours a day, no brain focus. Her dizziness is getting worse, although no one can quite figure out why. She is seeing a neurologist who has ordered an MRI but there isn't any money for the co-pay for it (It's right around $500 - well, *was*, with the new insurance it might be different now. We will investigate that next week.)

Cat also now has car insurance coming due and while her car is now paid off, she also needs new tires, a fresh alignment, and new brakes (hopefully not rotors, but possibly), but far more important are just affording the essentials of food, energy (power), and medications/medical visits.

She's borrowed money, but that's not a viable long-term solution. She's sold her very valuable stash of yarn to make ends meet. She's sold writing and even started a donation site for her writing.

Right now, credit cards are all maxed out, rent is due in a week, bills are due (energy, credit card, medical, insurance, food) and while rent *should* hopefully be covered with my contribution (I am on disability so I do not have much in the way of help to offer, but I do what I can) Cat has exhausted all alternate avenues of income.

Cat really needs our help and your donation will go to only paying the costs mentioned in this post. The money will be going directly to her. I am only organizing this fund on her behalf because Cat would never ask herself.

Thank you for anything that you can do to help her. We have no idea how long Social Security will take or if there will have to be a second appeal, but we’re hopeful it will come around.

While her work hours have increased a little bit, they still aren't enough to sustain our little 900 sq foot home and its bills. She is and has been looking for other/additional work she can do, but as of yet, nothing has availed itself that she's able to do.

If there is any way at all you can see it possible to donate to this cause, I promise you that your donation will do so much for my friend and roommate of 13 years. She has helped me plenty and gotten me on my feet when I needed it and I just want to see her get through these trying times like she has for me.