Help for bills during Abigail’s heart surgery

As many of you know, I am having open-heart surgery on October 4th, 2024. This has been one of our most challenging years to date. At the beginning of summer, I had to quit my long-time career of massage therapy because of a repetitive use injury to both of my arms. We decided to try and limp through the summer financially until Aaliyah returned to school in the fall so that I could be with her during her summer break.

The original plan was for me to drive Uber Eats a couple of days a week to help out. That wound up not being the case as one by one, all of our cars started breaking down. At one point, ALL of them were down at the same time. I borrowed my mother's car, and the next morning, we woke up to find a tree had fallen the night before, right on top of it! The tree was now on our last remaining vehicle and blocking our path through the farm. We were stunned. It had started to feel like we were living in a horrible nightmare.

Other health stuff came up for me during the summer, nothing major but things I had to see specialists for while not having consistent work. Our savings were being drained quickly, with no end in sight. In the course of testing for some of these minor things, I needed clearance from my cardiologist to have a gynecological procedure done that required sedation. Since it was so close to my yearly checkup, we decided to do my annual workup. Not expecting any new news from it other than 'see you next year,' I was pretty stunned when I got the call saying, it's time.

I have had this heart defect since birth and until this year, have led a normal, very active life. I didn't feel much different, just maybe a little slower and more easily tired. But I figured that was just from being over 40! Things moved pretty quickly after that, and after numerous tests to rule out aneurysms or clogged arteries, we set a date. I have a really good surgeon who is confident of a great outcome, and I'm looking forward to feeling so much stronger once I am healed. But that's going to be a long, slow process.

In the interim, Mason is carrying the physical and financial load for both of us. We've managed to stay afloat up until now, but the savings is nearly gone, and I will be out of work until the first of the year. And that is why we are here. We aren't asking for any help with the medical bills; they will be with us probably the rest of our lives. Unless I am extremely lucky, or very unlucky, this won't be my last time doing this procedure. So the medical stuff is just what it is. But we very much need help covering the bills that I normally pay, and that's where this GoFundMe comes in. If you can help, thank you so very much! If not, that's okay, a kind word of encouragement sent our way is invaluable.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have helped us survive to this point. Many blessings and much love to all of you.