Help JC Morrissey Get Urgent Ankle Surgery

Hey friends and family. I'm sending love and I hope you're well.

The tldr is I urgently need ankle surgery and I don't have enough squirreled away to cover my out-of-pocket. They won't operate unless I've paid my portion to both the surgeon and the hospital. It totals around six thousand, but I was able to talk them down to five.

You don't have to, but you should really read on because this situation is bonkers.

In case anyone doesn't know, thanks to multiple ankle injuries and a botched microfracture surgery I have dislocated/degrading cartilage beneath my right tibia. The compression has caused a loss of blood to the bone beneath it. The result is that my talus and the soft tissue on top of it are both dieing. It hurts. A lot. It's called an osteochondral defect and talar avascular necrosis. It's permanent, debilitating, and quickly getting worse.

Driving, standing, walking, sitting flat footed, just laying there, it never actually stops hurting. The issue is too uncommon to have anything like a standard for treatment. I saw six specialist surgeons last fall, and every one of them gave me a different answer on how to proceed.

I've been searching for gainful employment off and on since the injury became unmanageable, but nothing has worked out.

In desperation, I re-enrolled at UT Chattanooga this spring and took out as much loan money as possible. I was hoping to pay my out-of-pocket that way. I deliberated, picked the least invasive surgical option, and scheduled it for March.

Three days before my surgery date, my mother went to the ER for abdominal pain and was diagnosed with late stage three ovarian cancer. She had about a 30% chance of survival. I put off the surgery indefinitely so I could help her out. With those odds, I also wanted to savor the time we had left.

Miraculously, she appears to be in that 30%! All signs point to imminent remission!

Unfortunately in that time I had to live off of the loan money I had squirreled away. With chronic pain, depression, a sick parent, some intense mathematics courses, and no income source, life gets expensive fast.

My ankle also just kept getting worse. I've had to get a permanent disability placard and a wheelchair, otherwise I can't get around in public.

I went back to the surgeon, scheduled another surgery date for this August....and realized I have absolutely no clue how I'm going to pay my deductible/out-of-pocket. I have a little under a grand left. I need at least another four before they'll touch me.

I don't know if it will work, but I do know that if I don't do anything within the next year the bone is going to collapse entirely. That's supposed to be truly awful.

So here I am...on the internet...asking for your help. I'm grateful for anything you can spare, and please don't give a cent more than that.

I love you all. I hope someone sees this.

With Hope and Gratitude,

JC Morrissey