Help Mandy Stay in School!

Almost 4 years ago my wife (Mandy) was diagnosed with a chronic illness.

For those that know about our journey, it’s been a tough one. We’ve moved multiple times (including into a camper for four months). We’ve had to wait (and still are) to have kids and start our family. And our day-to-day lives look so different from before this has started – we haven’t gone on a date out to dinner since… aside take-out Chipotle (which we can no longer do) or a rotisserie chicken from the butcher shop. We’ve missed out on get-togethers, trips, dinners – all because when your diet is as limited as Mandy’s is and you have chronic stomach issues, every day holds challenges.

A few weeks ago, just when things finally started to feel calm and the seas seemed to quiet… we got a note from our accountant that due to a filing error by our accounting office for the last two years, we owe about $10,000 in taxes. And we have to adjust how we pay taxes going forward.

Why does that hurt so much? Aside from the wide-eyed shock of having to shell out back taxes, we know we’re going to have to put aside more money to pay our taxes properly in the coming months and years.

The real crappy part is that Mandy just started school this fall to fulfill a life-long dream to become a mental health counselor.

To get Mandy into school, we squeezed every dollar out of our budget to make it work. We had no idea this tax bill was going to drop into our laps, and it wiped out Mandy’s school fund (which we're paying without the help of loans). Combined with the fact that the vast majority of Mandy’s health costs aren’t covered by insurance, and the low-end estimate is that we’ve spent over $25,000 out of pocket since 2020 to cover Mandy’s health costs.

And now we find ourselves in a place where we’re not sure what else we can do.

Every dollar from this Go Fund Me will go toward Mandy’s tuition. Because of Mandy’s health and our circumstances, she’s taking one class per semester. We’re hoping to raise enough so we know she’s covered for two upcoming semesters – giving us more time to figure out a long term solution

Any help would mean so much to Mandy and me. For those of you that know Mandy, you know how compassionate, perceptive, and helpful she is – and how amazing she would be as a counselor.

After almost 4 years of constantly having to let go of food, health, home, and family – I really just hope she doesn’t have to give up her schooling, too.

If you want to dig into more of our story, feel free to check out Mandy’s blog and/or our podcast Chronically Married (on Spotify, Apple, or PodBean ).

We love you. We thank you. And we wish you, your friends, and your family a wonderful holiday season.

-Andy