Hi, my name is Kol. Over Thanksgiving week, I was in the hospital. Long story short is that I got a cut on my scalp, it got infected, and then in between my autoimmune infection and my diabetes, the infection got very bad, very fast. At its worst, my face, head, and neck were swollen with cellulitis to being way bigger than normal, I could not see, and the infection was draining as discharge from my eyes and nose.

I actually still have some of the infection still going on around the site of the cut, but I was told the antibiotics I was given as a 7 day prescription(today is Day 6 as of writing this) would take care of it. I've been barely surviving for the four years since I escaped my family. Even when I had a job, I was still having to basically beg for all the money I used to pay bills and rent, while my paychecks went for food. Now, after almost a year with being unemployed and denied unemployment, having to ask for more money just so I can eat less food, I cannot deal with a sudden $10,000 bill. I just don't have the capacity for it in any way.

Now, you will notice from the picture, that I'm asking for a bit more than $10,299.99. And there's a reason for this, and it's that GoFundMe takes service fees out of the donations. But it doesn't account for that in reaching the goal.

What I mean by that is, if the goal for something is just $1,000. And someone donates $500. GoFundMe takes a 2.9% service fee, plus $0.30 for every donation. But still counts it in the donation. So the goal will update to $500 out of $1,000 received, but the campaign will only receive $485.20.

$12,000 is a lot more than $10,000. This is mostly so if I reach the goal, I can come back and say "Hey, campaign's over, thank you everyone." Anything actually over the $10,299.99, I can absolutely guarantee will be going towards bills, food, or rent. And if I happen to be over by the $1,000 and something dollars after GoFundMe takes it's cut, then that's half a month's bills. Either in the long run or the short run.

I just desperately need help. My health, being diabetic and having an autoimmune infection is to the point where this all resulted from a cut a I just woke up with one day and don't even know how I got. My finances have been shot ever since 4 years ago, when I escaped a physically abusive family that wanted to keep me living in their garage filled with trash, and also to kill my cat just as a way to control me. Yes, I've had jobs. One, I regularly received death threats from the customers and was told to just deal with it. The other, the manager was regularly abusive and lied to get me fired, and made sure to tell unemployment "I was fired for being violent", something which has followed my work history ever since. Because that stuff goes into your background check.

Please help. I'm just very tired, and I'm sick, and I just need it. Please.

December 12, 2024 Update:

Did successfully get a payment plan set up. I have two options of paying either $214.58 to have no interest, or $128.75 with low interest.

I also received an additional bill from the hospital for $494.50 for "care services" and "discharge management." Unfortunately that one is too small to break down into payments, apparently, so it's all due by January 6th.

Thank you everyone for the support so far.