Help an artist bounce back from a layoff and breast cancer

Hello, friends. My name is J. L. Meadows. Thank you for taking the time to read my GoFundMe page. Here is my story:

The past few years have been hard on many of us, haven't they? And, like many of us, I have done my best to deal with it all and keep going; but recent life events have dealt me some setbacks that I must reluctantly admit I need help to overcome.

A few years ago, my twin brother committed suicide. A few months later, my sister, who was my best friend, died of cancer. We all thought she had gone into remission, but her breast cancer returned as bone cancer, and after that, there was no hope.

In light of all those events, I really should have gotten some therapy to help deal with it all; but I regarded doing so as weakness, and I soldiered on. I think, in hindsight, that was a mistake.

A few years after all that, my company closed my division at work and laid everyone off. I managed to get a new job after that...and then, in 2020, I discovered that I had breast cancer.

The good news is that, after a double mastectomy, it looks like the cancer, for now, is gone. The bad news is that, because of being laid off, then having to quit my job because of the cancer and the fear of getting COVID (chemotherapy badly weakens the immune system and an important part of my job was interacting with the public), plus getting a painful auto-immune disorder from the COVID vaccine, my savings have been badly depleted.

To be frank, I'm afraid that I need more funds than I have to get a fresh start, to try to keep going. Among other expenses, I have a 15-year-old car that needs repairs. It's been a good car, but it's old, and parts of it need replacing. I've been told that one repair alone will cost over $1,000. In addition, I need dental work that had to be postponed because of the cancer and COVID shutdowns; worse, the radiation I received as part of my cancer treatment weakened my teeth further. My insurance doesn't help much in that regard. Also, my rent was recently raised an additional $200 more a month, due to “inflation”, according to my landlord.

I am an artist. A sample of my work is above. It's a portrait of a good friend's dogs. She lost them both recently, and so I painted this portrait as a memorial to them, and to give her some comfort.

Thank you again for reading my page. I deeply appreciate any help you can give.