My name is Derek DeStefano. I have chronic health issues. I have been sick on and off all of my life and didn't get a diagnosis until 2019. I suffer from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, a neurological condition affecting the vagus nerve of my central nervous system. When suffering an attack, I experience severe dehydration from violent vomiting. I have dramatically increased sensitivity to light and painful abdominal migraines. My body's "thermostat" stops working correctly. I sweat profusely, as if I were standing in a shower. It affects my ability to function properly and am often staggering into walls or crawling to the bathroom. I typically have to get into VERY hot baths (112°f) as it somehow helps by resetting my neurological offset that is occuring during a cvs attack. Episodes last anywhere from 2 hours to the worst time being 14 hours of continuous vomiting, unable to keep anything down at all. I have medications that help treat the attacks, but there is nothing to avoid attacks altogether. Along with CVS, I also have IBS, which causes further dehydration and pain. To complicate matters more, I have alopecia universalis, which doesn't just affect hair and nail growth but also completely compromises my immune system by continuously attacking itself. I am 39 and have done the best I could for as long as I could living with chronic illness. My family has told me I should be on disability my entire life, but without a diagnosis, that was impossible to even consider. My body cannot physically tolerate and work through these CVS attacks. It has completely taken my teeth from me, for instance. It absolutely has affected every aspect of my life, and for years now, I simply just exist, dealing with attacks/episodes or trying to recuperate from attacks/episodes and rarely ever actually truly LIVE my life anymore.

I am currently 2 years deep into a disability claim. I have exhausted my life savings and was promised help from father through this disability claim process, which is known to be lengthy, to say the least. My father is not honoring that offered help, and I am left to deal with not only my chronic illness but the disability process completely on my own. I am worn out physically, mentally, and emotionally. I am literally just asking for help in getting by while awaiting the lawyers and disability to get everything together, in order, and processed properly. I do not know the duration, as nobody can give me an assumed duration. But I absolutely NEED help. I am just trying to not be homeless in the meantime. So, without any form of a support network, I had nowhere else to turn other than this platform and to hope for the kindness of strangers.