Help Joe with Quality of Life
Donation protected
**UPDATE** 3/27/2022
If you haven't already, I encourage you to read our Dad's story (below). However, we have some important updates that need to be shared.
Just a short 3 months ago, on December 23rd, Dad got his THIRD back surgery.
Now, (UNBELIEVABLY)... Dad still can't catch a break. He recently learned that he has severe arthritis in his right hip. So even though his back surgery was successful, his hip is now so painful that he still hasn't regained his mobility.
I'll be honest with you folks, this has been a nightmare. It seems like Dad's body is failing him everywhere and he just wants to be able to live without agonizing pain everyday. He just wants to be able to walk to the bathroom. He just wants to enjoy whatever limited life he has left.
It's been 4 years of this for Dad. Now we have to pay for a hip replacement surgery that will run us $8,700. The money we previously raised here (over $10K), is being used to keep the mortgage and bills paid for however long we can stretch it. Now with this hip surgery, we are right back to square one and risk losing our house.
At the time I am writing this, we have $10,417 raised on this GoFundMe. We need to get to $19,117 to make it through the hip surgery.
Please help us see the end of this. Thank you.
WHO WE ARE
Hello everyone. Our names are Marie and Jeannie. We are sisters who have set up this GoFundMe for our father, Joe, who is in immense physical pain every single day and is losing his hope for living.
As of today (9/19/21), he does not know that we have set this fundraiser up. We hope that by sharing his story, we can somehow get him the help he needs... because after 3 long years of agony...we also do not know what to do anymore.
Please take a moment to read his story and grant us the chance to inspire you. Thank you so much.
WHO IS JOE?
This is Joe- a hardworking, funny, and passionate man. Father and hero to three.
He has devoted most of his life to supporting his family and helping others.
During our years growing up, our father worked 2 to 3 jobs to keep the roof over our heads and food on our table. When that no longer was sufficient, Dad took to traveling to work disaster relief after devastating hurricanes and floods hit around the U.S.
- Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana - 2005
- Hurricane Rita, Louisiana - 2005
- The Floods in Iowa - 2008
- Hurricane Ike, Texas - 2008
- BP Oil Spill, Florida Panhandle - 2010
To do these jobs, Dad had to leave everything behind for several months at a time (his home, his family, and his comfort), and set out to face the unknown.
During this time, he lived in his small utility trailer and tent on empty camp sites - without electricity, regular food or water, the comfort of actual shelter or sleep for extended periods of time- in order to help Americans who were in crisis, and provide for his family back home.
This is just one of the many instances that he has put his wants, comforts, and feelings aside to help others. We use this to help to explain to you just what type of man he is, what he holds dear, and what standards he holds himself to.
A TURN FOR THE WORSE
After decades of physical labor, two unforeseeable injuries, and two back surgeries (2018 & 2019)...
Dad now suffers from severe neuropathy and spinal cord injuries that make routine things like showering and getting to the grocery store extremely difficult and at times impossible.
To paint this picture a little more vividly, Dad’s neuropathy causes a horrible burning sensation throughout his feet and legs. This has gotten progressively worse throughout the 3 years since it has started.
His nerve damage is so extreme that he can no longer walk on the floor with bare feet because the cold floor HURTS, so he wears socks 24/7, night and day. He was also forced to give up wearing regular close-toed shoes due to pain. And now, as it has gotten worse… Dad even feels pain when the fan blows air on his feet.
The newest development is that the pain is starting to travel up his legs as far as his thighs.
He fears the future may hold amputation of his feet and legs and a permanent confinement to a wheelchair.
NOT WITHOUT A COST
We are fighting tooth and nail to keep up with medical costs.
Insurance + co-pays, medical bills, and prescriptions average out to be about $2,700 / month out of pocket! This is before attempting to still cover the mortgage, car insurance, phone bill and food.
This year alone he has paid $27,000 in doctors bills- not including the cost of living expenses. For the last 2 years he has been surviving off of his life savings that he has worked his entire life for and it is almost completely gone.
There is real fear that Dad will have to give up his house just to maintain living with health insurance. As he does the math over and over, he does not see how he can keep both if we do not come into a financial miracle.
WHAT WE'RE DOING TO HELP
His condition keeps him incapable of working. So his 3 children do everything they can to offset the immense stress that he is under.
Jeannie is the last of his children living with him at home and contributes money the house expenses. She routinely cooks dinner with dad, and spends time with him at home because that is where he is mostly confined to. She consistently sees the unbearable pain he is in, and it is taking an emotional toll on her, as well as the rest of the family.
I and our brother often send money home, help with paperwork, and collect more resource information. Answers and relief have been far and few between. A lot of government resources require an individual to be homeless or completely destitute in order to qualify (Medicaid).
He isn’t old enough yet for social security, but we are pursuing his disability case that hopefully will get approved. Usually they get denied multiple times and can take 4-5 years on average to be approved.
OUR WISH
As his condition and financial security deteriorate, we are doing what we can to keep hope alive.
Our wish is to be able to keep the house and his healthcare until we can get his disability approved and get some additional income coming in.
We have put the goal at $50,000 because we estimate that that would give us approximately a year and a half more to work on the disability case.
($50,000 divided by $3,000/month = 16.66 months)
During that time, the $50,000 would go to paying for our father’s medical bills, and pain management so he can focus on living with less pain and stress, and the rest of the family can focus on paying the mortgage and other regular expenses.
(We are happy to speak in length about our situation with any serious donors and will happily submit receipts of money used to the donor directly. )
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If you have the means to donate today, your contribution will not go unnoticed. We know that so many people are suffering right now, and even the smallest gesture makes a difference.
If you aren’t able to donate today, we ask that you please SHARE our dad’s story WITH a short caption of something that inspired you. The more people that see this.. the more likely we are to reach our goal.
If 1,000 people donated $50, that would be the miracle we have been praying for.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING. We cannot express it enough how much it means that you took the time to do so.
If you haven't already, I encourage you to read our Dad's story (below). However, we have some important updates that need to be shared.
Just a short 3 months ago, on December 23rd, Dad got his THIRD back surgery.
Now, (UNBELIEVABLY)... Dad still can't catch a break. He recently learned that he has severe arthritis in his right hip. So even though his back surgery was successful, his hip is now so painful that he still hasn't regained his mobility.
I'll be honest with you folks, this has been a nightmare. It seems like Dad's body is failing him everywhere and he just wants to be able to live without agonizing pain everyday. He just wants to be able to walk to the bathroom. He just wants to enjoy whatever limited life he has left.
It's been 4 years of this for Dad. Now we have to pay for a hip replacement surgery that will run us $8,700. The money we previously raised here (over $10K), is being used to keep the mortgage and bills paid for however long we can stretch it. Now with this hip surgery, we are right back to square one and risk losing our house.
At the time I am writing this, we have $10,417 raised on this GoFundMe. We need to get to $19,117 to make it through the hip surgery.
Please help us see the end of this. Thank you.
WHO WE ARE
Hello everyone. Our names are Marie and Jeannie. We are sisters who have set up this GoFundMe for our father, Joe, who is in immense physical pain every single day and is losing his hope for living.
As of today (9/19/21), he does not know that we have set this fundraiser up. We hope that by sharing his story, we can somehow get him the help he needs... because after 3 long years of agony...we also do not know what to do anymore.
Please take a moment to read his story and grant us the chance to inspire you. Thank you so much.
WHO IS JOE?
This is Joe- a hardworking, funny, and passionate man. Father and hero to three.
He has devoted most of his life to supporting his family and helping others.
During our years growing up, our father worked 2 to 3 jobs to keep the roof over our heads and food on our table. When that no longer was sufficient, Dad took to traveling to work disaster relief after devastating hurricanes and floods hit around the U.S.
- Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana - 2005
- Hurricane Rita, Louisiana - 2005
- The Floods in Iowa - 2008
- Hurricane Ike, Texas - 2008
- BP Oil Spill, Florida Panhandle - 2010
To do these jobs, Dad had to leave everything behind for several months at a time (his home, his family, and his comfort), and set out to face the unknown.
During this time, he lived in his small utility trailer and tent on empty camp sites - without electricity, regular food or water, the comfort of actual shelter or sleep for extended periods of time- in order to help Americans who were in crisis, and provide for his family back home.
This is just one of the many instances that he has put his wants, comforts, and feelings aside to help others. We use this to help to explain to you just what type of man he is, what he holds dear, and what standards he holds himself to.
A TURN FOR THE WORSE
After decades of physical labor, two unforeseeable injuries, and two back surgeries (2018 & 2019)...
Dad now suffers from severe neuropathy and spinal cord injuries that make routine things like showering and getting to the grocery store extremely difficult and at times impossible.
To paint this picture a little more vividly, Dad’s neuropathy causes a horrible burning sensation throughout his feet and legs. This has gotten progressively worse throughout the 3 years since it has started.
His nerve damage is so extreme that he can no longer walk on the floor with bare feet because the cold floor HURTS, so he wears socks 24/7, night and day. He was also forced to give up wearing regular close-toed shoes due to pain. And now, as it has gotten worse… Dad even feels pain when the fan blows air on his feet.
The newest development is that the pain is starting to travel up his legs as far as his thighs.
He fears the future may hold amputation of his feet and legs and a permanent confinement to a wheelchair.
NOT WITHOUT A COST
We are fighting tooth and nail to keep up with medical costs.
Insurance + co-pays, medical bills, and prescriptions average out to be about $2,700 / month out of pocket! This is before attempting to still cover the mortgage, car insurance, phone bill and food.
This year alone he has paid $27,000 in doctors bills- not including the cost of living expenses. For the last 2 years he has been surviving off of his life savings that he has worked his entire life for and it is almost completely gone.
There is real fear that Dad will have to give up his house just to maintain living with health insurance. As he does the math over and over, he does not see how he can keep both if we do not come into a financial miracle.
WHAT WE'RE DOING TO HELP
His condition keeps him incapable of working. So his 3 children do everything they can to offset the immense stress that he is under.
Jeannie is the last of his children living with him at home and contributes money the house expenses. She routinely cooks dinner with dad, and spends time with him at home because that is where he is mostly confined to. She consistently sees the unbearable pain he is in, and it is taking an emotional toll on her, as well as the rest of the family.
I and our brother often send money home, help with paperwork, and collect more resource information. Answers and relief have been far and few between. A lot of government resources require an individual to be homeless or completely destitute in order to qualify (Medicaid).
He isn’t old enough yet for social security, but we are pursuing his disability case that hopefully will get approved. Usually they get denied multiple times and can take 4-5 years on average to be approved.
OUR WISH
As his condition and financial security deteriorate, we are doing what we can to keep hope alive.
Our wish is to be able to keep the house and his healthcare until we can get his disability approved and get some additional income coming in.
We have put the goal at $50,000 because we estimate that that would give us approximately a year and a half more to work on the disability case.
($50,000 divided by $3,000/month = 16.66 months)
During that time, the $50,000 would go to paying for our father’s medical bills, and pain management so he can focus on living with less pain and stress, and the rest of the family can focus on paying the mortgage and other regular expenses.
(We are happy to speak in length about our situation with any serious donors and will happily submit receipts of money used to the donor directly. )
HOW YOU CAN HELP
If you have the means to donate today, your contribution will not go unnoticed. We know that so many people are suffering right now, and even the smallest gesture makes a difference.
If you aren’t able to donate today, we ask that you please SHARE our dad’s story WITH a short caption of something that inspired you. The more people that see this.. the more likely we are to reach our goal.
If 1,000 people donated $50, that would be the miracle we have been praying for.
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING. We cannot express it enough how much it means that you took the time to do so.
Co-organizers (2)
Marie Strait
Organizer
Lake Worth, FL
Jean Strait
Beneficiary
Jeannie Strait
Co-organizer