Hi, my name is Ali and I come from a loving family that respects & loves all religions and ethnicities. I'm not alone in sadness as my homeland of Lebanon grapples with social unrest, dismantled banking system, & a crippling financial & economic crisis. My parents’ serious health issues including my mom's advanced stage 4 lymphoma cancer, my dad's Alzheimers, & my brother's bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have forced us to create this donation page as a do-or-die last-ditch attempt at survival.

The banking system is completely frozen so it's impossible to take a loan or even access accounts. In just 2 years, our currency lost more than 95% of its value & over 82% of the country has been driven into poverty. (Please click Read More if from a computer) The minimum wage here is $2/h & although I have been struggling to help my family during this difficult time, our burden has been made worse because of the medical obligations.

Financially crippled despite working full time, we've decided to try making this GoFundMe page with the hope of saving my family as I worry deeply about my parents’ health and survival. We have found ourselves under severe threats by loan sharks whom we had to resort to in order to pay for medical obligations that we simply could not afford, especially with the entire banking system in Lebanon disabled therefore we could not get a loan the traditional way.

This is not the elderly life that I imagined for my parents & I am heartbroken about the hand we’ve been dealt. I turn to you with both shame & hope for compassion to help me save my family from this dead-end rock bottom, especially with my suffering mother who needs treatment urgently.

My mom is truly my hero. Our very elderly, sick, and Alzheimer-ridden grandmother was living with us until she suddenly passed away last year. She was being taken care of by my cancer-sick mother. I find that not only unfair & heartbreaking but I also feel pride in having such an incredible mother with family values far exceeding what the mind can fathom.

We have pretty much lost everything again except the roof over our heads, in my hometown village. I thank God for that and even though things are very bad, I still do my best to keep up and also keep my head up. Our family's goal is simply for the family to survive.

My family was doing all we could to support each other financially and emotionally, and things were improving. But events in Lebanon took a turn: the economy & government crashed, crime & civil unrest skyrocketed, explosions, you name it. It was full financial, political, and social upheaval, on top of having to deal with COVID, which made things ten times worse. Unluckily, my mom was undergoing her chemo treatments during COVID & caught the virus at the start of the pandemic. The pressure was insurmountable but it was just the beginning, & despite working full-time to try to make ends meet, my family had well & truly hit rock bottom.

With the situation worsening, and even some tragic heavy losses like my grandmother & my healthy uncle (mom's brother) passing away from a tragic ladder fall, our emotions and patience were constantly being tested but we can only thank God & praise Him for keeping us on this Earth. Funeral and end-of-life costs were part of a long list of obligations that hit us hard & painfully deepened our loan commitments.

My siblings and I have been working every waking hour to take care of most of our household expenses for a while now, and I’m so grateful that we've managed to do so while we were able to & despite the looming loans. It is painful also to see my dad, who has always worked so hard for our family, now beginning to lose his memory due to Alzheimer's disease; his knowledge and memory are his most cherished things in life besides love and family, so this is truly devastating for us & for him.

After two years in remission, we finally managed to get my mom to do her cancer follow-up tests and PET Scan and were shocked to find out that her cancer has returned and is now in her throat. Suddenly, both of my parents need major medical attention at the worst time that Lebanon has ever gone through. I try not to dwell on the feeling that we keep being dealt unfair hands, nobody said that life will be easy. However we just didn't seem to catch a break, and there are no signs of light at the end of the tunnel.

My mom has now gone through 18 chemotherapy sessions, and had a big operation recently, which sadly confirmed Stage 4 cancer that is spreading throughout her body.

We are working all day and night and struggle to keep up with the basics. Daily life is barely affordable and the banking system in Lebanon has frozen all citizens' assets with severely low ATM allowances (150$ a week) The rest of the extended family is chipping in whenever they can, but it’s gotten to the point where we’ve even been forced to sell all our belongings including my mom’s clothes, rugs, furniture, cookware, glassware, everything.

The pressure is overwhelming. It is not easy to reach out and ask for help, and I am truly humbled to do so. But I would do anything to help my parents, and both my mom and dad need urgent medical care and operations.

We are drowning, suffocating, and national suicide rates are at their all-time high.

All I want in life is for my parents to be okay and get the care they need. Dad and mom’s hospital time plus operations will cost a lot of money. mom’s chemo sessions were $900 per session. She got COVID in the middle of her chemo sessions so we had to keep her in an emergency room for 15 days which cost $1000 a day. That was the beginning of the loans we were forced to take to survive. These numbers are even bigger in Lebanon, where the minimum wage is as low as $2/h and if you’re not able or willing to pay the hospital such amounts, they won’t even let you through its doors.

We have been delaying too many hospital visits because of financial issues, which I believe contributed to my mom reaching Stage 4 but I don’t want to think that way. The idea of me not being able to help because of financial issues is killing me.

All I’m wishing for is just to be able to cover hospital bills. I will continue to work my hardest to cover other daily expenses, but I don’t see how we have any chance of covering these bills without asking others for help. Thank you in advance for anything that you can contribute, anything helps & we will never forget your kind gestures.

Any help towards my family during this time of crisis will be deeply appreciated & we will pray for you & cherish you with indescribable amounts of gratitude.

With love and appreciation.

-Ali Abbas & family