I'm writing this from a hospital bed at Tufts Medical Center, where I had emergency surgery yesterday for a serious complication of Crohn's disease.

I've had Crohn's for most of my life. It's a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and it's the reason I take immunosuppressant medications, the reason my healthcare costs have exceeded $140,000 in some years, and the reason I became a lawyer and health policy advocate in the first place: because when I was an undergraduate, my insurer nearly let me die by denying coverage, and a lawyer saved my life.

This week, after months of worsening symptoms and multiple rounds of antibiotics that weren't enough, an MRI revealed a large abscess that required emergency surgical intervention. I was admitted directly from my doctor's office on April 8 and taken to the operating room on April 9.

I work as a Senior Resident Fellow at Data for Progress, where I lead disability policy and public opinion research. I spend most of my professional life fighting to make the healthcare system work for chronically ill and disabled people. The irony of needing to ask for help navigating my own medical costs is not lost on me, but the reality is that even with insurance, a hospitalization and emergency surgery generate the kind of out-of-pocket expenses that can destabilize months of careful budgeting.

The funds will go toward hospital and surgical bills, prescriptions and wound care supplies for recovery, and the general financial disruption that comes with an unplanned hospitalization.

If you're in a position to help, I'm grateful. If you're not, please don't feel any pressure at all. Sharing this page is just as meaningful, and honestly, if you're someone who's managing your own medical costs or financial precarity right now, keep your money. I mean that. (I really fucking mean that.)

Thank you for the kindness so many of you have shown me over the years. I'll be okay. The recovery road is going to be awhile, but I have good doctors, an amazing chosen family,

and a plan.