Help Dave Marshall recover from a serious accident and save his home of 17 years

At 12:15am on March 5th, I hit a deep unmarked pothole on Commonwealth Avenue in Kenmore Square while working a courier shift for Insomnia Cookies. My instinct kicked in — feet down, Flintstones-style — and the impact fractured both of my tibial plateaus. An ambulance brought me to Mass General. X-rays confirmed the fractures weren't displaced enough for surgery, which was the good news. The bad: neither leg could bear weight, my apartment is up a flight of stairs, and I spent the next five weeks between a wheelchair and a walker at Medford Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

I was discharged April 10th. I'm walking again — carefully, with a walker — but I'm at least a month from returning to work. The pothole was deep enough that a friend's photo of it days later showed it stopping a car. That situation is being looked into legally. That's a long road. The rent clock doesn't wait.

I've lived in the same apartment since May 2008. I raised my kid there. Seventeen years in one place means something — it's not just an address, it's where I'm from. My landlord is a kind older woman who gave me more patience than most would. She deserves better than this situation, and so do I. I'm six months behind on rent. I'm facing eviction.

I've been in Boston since 1980. For most of that time I've earned my living as a comic book artist, illustrator, graphic designer, and web developer. Last year I lost my position at the State of Connecticut Digital Service to budget cuts. Finding full-time work since has been a wall — a job market hollowed out by ageism and AI, and I've come up empty. I exhausted unemployment. I took the courier job to keep going.

Fortunately, that part-time work qualified me for MassHealth, so the hospital bills aren't part of this. What is part of this is everything else that piled up while I was treading water before the accident — and the month-plus of lost income while I recover.

The accident didn't create this crisis. It made an already bad situation critical.

Here's the full picture:

Back rent (6 months × $2,000)  $12,000

Gas (past due)  $3,000

Electric (past due)  $1,650

Internet (past due)  $360

Family loans (estimated)  ~$3,000

Recovery living expenses  ~$1,000

Total  ~$21,010

Phase 1 goal is $10,000 — enough to address the eviction and the most urgent arrears while I get back on my feet. Phase 2 clears the rest. Every dollar goes directly to keeping me housed and solvent.

If you'd like something in return for your generosity, I'm offering commissions from my Inky Stories illustration work:

$75+  Signed digital print of existing work

$150+  Custom sketch commission

$300+  Full custom illustration

See examples and details at inkystories.com/commissions. Reach out after donating and we'll sort out the details.

I'm not asking to be rescued. I'm asking for a bridge back to the life I was building before everything came apart at once. If you can give, thank you. If you can't, sharing this costs nothing and means more than you might think.

— Dave