Hi, my name is Catherine “Cat” Davis. I’m a single mother and home health nurse. In 2017, when I was only 33 years old, I was diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder after having multiple PEs form in my left lung. Recovery from the blood clots went well, but I was told I would be on lifelong anticoagulation therapy to prevent future clots. One of the side effects of being on a “blood thinner” when you’re only in your thirties is heavy menstrual bleeding. Heavy menstrual bleeding almost seems like an understatement compared to what I’ve been through. In 2021, at one point, my iron saturation was 6.3, my ferritin 8, and I was ordered iron infusions. Finally, on July 31st of this year, I was scheduled to have a hysterectomy, which would resolve a lot of issues I’ve had stemming from all of this. The surgery went well, and I’ve been home recovering when Tuesday I had to be admitted to the hospital for very heavy bleeding, which is not normal 19 days post-op. The main contributing factor in all of this is the blood thinners, unfortunately. So instead of being off from work for the minimum amount of time, I’m now looking at being off work for at least 7 weeks, and that’s if everything continues to go well and I don’t have any further complications.

With all of that being said, I do not have short-term disability. I actually don’t qualify through my work due to my previous medical history. I had accumulated 40 hours of vacation/sick time and was aiming to only be out of work for 2-4 weeks. Now, knowing I will be out till at least late September, I’m facing a horrible financial predicament. I hate asking anyone for help, but this whole situation is causing me so much stress I’m afraid it’s seriously going to delay my healing even further, and we definitely cannot afford for that to happen. I’m trying to raise enough money to pay our basic bills for August and September so we don’t have any of our utilities shut off, and so I don’t lose my car before my doctor says I’m able to return to work—for which having a car is necessary. I would ask my immediate family, but they’ve already been helping out so much with the kids and the house that I don’t want to put any more on them. I am the only parent my kids have, so if I’m in the hospital, it means someone else has to be taking care of the kids, and my family has stepped up, for which I am extremely grateful. I just don’t want to ask any more of them than what has already been asked. I know in my heart I have donated to others whenever I have been able to in the past. I just hope others can find it in their hearts to help out my family at this time and know it will be paid forward.