Help Lisa Survive EDS & Medical Debt!

Hi my name is Lisa and I’m here making the big scary ask: help to survive medical debt and chronic illness. In the last few years my health has declined significantly from complications of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and Chronic Pancreatitis. Severe pain, extreme fatigue, and constant nausea control much of my time and energy. I’ve had several hospitalizations in the past few years and I lost my full time job in healthcare while I was still in the hospital and ran out of FMLA. Now, as much as I miss it, my body is no longer capable of working a full time job. I take jobs house/pet sitting when I can to try to get by while I wait for my disability benefits to be approved, but it’s not enough. I need some help to survive until then.

I’m raising money to get me out of urgent debt (from medical expenses) as well as cover approximately 2 months of medical and basic living expenses while I work with the disability lawyer and wait for my benefits to be approved. This will cover immediate, emergency expenses such as paying off a dangerously overdue predatory loan I’ve been paying down for over a year. It will not only provide that immediate temporary stability, it will also cover the other basic necessities of gas to get to appointments and jobs, medical copays for specialists, nutrition supplements and pain control not otherwise covered (such as essential herbal supplements and OTC meds), and necessary medical & adaptive equipment (compression garments, ring splints, mobility aids, etc).

As a former hospice worker who dreamed of becoming a nurse my heart is in caring for others, and asking for help for myself in this way seems awkward and backwards, like a strange mix up. This whole journey has been strange but not without hope.

In it I have also experienced the joy of having just enough. I have received just the right things at just the right time in so many ways. Nothing really extravagant, extraordinary, or “extra” at all, but just enough to get by today (which is the only time we are really promised).

If you feel you have enough extra and want to help me get to just enough, please donate and share. Thank you so much for your time and your care, every little bit matters.