Help me save my twin brother!
Donation protected
Hey everyone.
I'm not one to ask for assistance, especially on a financial level, but I have found myself at a place where I truly need to reach out and ask for help.
In short, my identical twin brother attempted suicide a couple of months ago. He almost succeeded this time (I say this time, because he has been suicidal for decades now), but thankfully he came back to us.
Unfortunately, he came back to us in a very limited capacity. He tried to overdose on insulin which created a massive stroke, damaging and destroying a large portion of his brain. Doctors described this as severe and irreparable.
At this point, my brother, Brian, has proven doctors that he is stronger than they anticipated and made more progress than even they had hoped for. Brian is a fighter. He continues to fight for his life, but this fight isn't about whether he will live or die at this point.
No, now it's a fight for quality of life. He is able to breathe on his own. He can walk. He seems to only want to walk now, clocking in literally miles each day walking around the rehab facility he has been in since this suicide attempt.
But, that's about the extent of how much he returned to us. He is still unable to speak. Well, he responds to questions, but it's more of a la-la-la-la-la response instead of words. If you know him well enough, you understand what he is attempting to say. There is still hope that in time his language faculties will return. He was a brilliant linguist with skills in multiple languages, including German and Hungarian.
He isn't able to take care of himself even on a very basic level. My parents have had to step in, mostly mom of course, to do what the nurses should be doing. That's one of the more tragic aspects of this experience and is the impetus to my reaching out to ask for help.
Where he has been is quite disgusting and is borderline neglectful and needs to be looked into from a legal perspective. When pushing the nurse call button in your room, it can take up to 1.5 HOURS for someone to respond, and my brother can't even push the button himself. My mother has spent 8 hours a day with him almost every day, and she has gone days where not a single nurse or doctor has stopped by to check on him.
He has gone without meals, without meds. If it weren't for my mother's diligently motherly love, he would be living an even worse nightmare trapped in his mind and body unable to fend for himself. We will be looking into this to see how we can fight to deal with this facility and its management, but that's for a later date.
My request and desire for reaching out is this: my brother needs to transfer to a different facility. A facility where there is a higher quality of experience and a better trained staff to deal with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) along with someone who suffers from mental health issues.
The current facility he is at is only a physical rehab facility. They are unequipped to deal with mental illness and TBI's. So, at this point, not a single doctor has looked at my brother's health and wellness from a brain standpoint - which is where the issue originates!
It's my desire, along with my family's, to transfer him to a rehab facility that also incorporates his needs on a psychological level.
Again, unfortunately, his medical insurance won't cover all of his needs. They are attempting to put him into a low-quality psych facility which is unacceptable to me, because I know it won't, can't, provide what he needs to truly heal; to retrain his brain to create the new neural pathways he needs to regain his speech and ability to take care of himself, along with some semblance of freedom of identity and self expression. The ability to truly be alive again and not a high-functioning vegetable.
That's why I'm asking for the $5,000. With that money, we would be able to place him at a high-quality facility which is also located close enough to home for my mother to be able to travel there daily to assist my brother and give him the love he so desperately needs right now.
I'm hoping that those who see this gofundme campaign and read my words will be moved enough to donate $5. That's my intent. I'm hoping to somehow reach a thousand people willing to donate $5 to reach my goal.
This campaign is about my brother, but not only about him. This is about all of the boys who were sexually abused as children. It's a massive affliction within the gay community.
My brother was sexually abused for years by my father's best friend without our knowledge. I, too, was abused by this man, but it wasn't as intense or lengthy as my brother's suffering. I could just as easily be in his position. I've also lived a life with mental illness and living through suicidality and suicide attempts.
This abuse destroyed my brother's spirit and mind. He developed PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, and Social Anxiety.
It's a quiet, pervasive issue within the gay community. Childhood sexual abuse and its correlation and causation of mental illness and mental health challenges.
So, yes, this is about my brother. But, it is also about you. Whether or not you yourself experienced abuse and struggled with your own mind, you probably know someone who has suffered, who is suffering, maybe even without you knowing.
Please, if you are able, consider donating $5 to my campaign. I cannot express in words just how much it would mean to me and my family - and ultimately my brother - and how grateful I would feel and how much of a blessing each and every dollar you donate would mean to me.
Even if you don't donate for whatever reason, I am very grateful for you even reading my words.
Thank you!!
In honor, love, and light!
Eric K. Kiszely
I'm not one to ask for assistance, especially on a financial level, but I have found myself at a place where I truly need to reach out and ask for help.
In short, my identical twin brother attempted suicide a couple of months ago. He almost succeeded this time (I say this time, because he has been suicidal for decades now), but thankfully he came back to us.
Unfortunately, he came back to us in a very limited capacity. He tried to overdose on insulin which created a massive stroke, damaging and destroying a large portion of his brain. Doctors described this as severe and irreparable.
At this point, my brother, Brian, has proven doctors that he is stronger than they anticipated and made more progress than even they had hoped for. Brian is a fighter. He continues to fight for his life, but this fight isn't about whether he will live or die at this point.
No, now it's a fight for quality of life. He is able to breathe on his own. He can walk. He seems to only want to walk now, clocking in literally miles each day walking around the rehab facility he has been in since this suicide attempt.
But, that's about the extent of how much he returned to us. He is still unable to speak. Well, he responds to questions, but it's more of a la-la-la-la-la response instead of words. If you know him well enough, you understand what he is attempting to say. There is still hope that in time his language faculties will return. He was a brilliant linguist with skills in multiple languages, including German and Hungarian.
He isn't able to take care of himself even on a very basic level. My parents have had to step in, mostly mom of course, to do what the nurses should be doing. That's one of the more tragic aspects of this experience and is the impetus to my reaching out to ask for help.
Where he has been is quite disgusting and is borderline neglectful and needs to be looked into from a legal perspective. When pushing the nurse call button in your room, it can take up to 1.5 HOURS for someone to respond, and my brother can't even push the button himself. My mother has spent 8 hours a day with him almost every day, and she has gone days where not a single nurse or doctor has stopped by to check on him.
He has gone without meals, without meds. If it weren't for my mother's diligently motherly love, he would be living an even worse nightmare trapped in his mind and body unable to fend for himself. We will be looking into this to see how we can fight to deal with this facility and its management, but that's for a later date.
My request and desire for reaching out is this: my brother needs to transfer to a different facility. A facility where there is a higher quality of experience and a better trained staff to deal with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) along with someone who suffers from mental health issues.
The current facility he is at is only a physical rehab facility. They are unequipped to deal with mental illness and TBI's. So, at this point, not a single doctor has looked at my brother's health and wellness from a brain standpoint - which is where the issue originates!
It's my desire, along with my family's, to transfer him to a rehab facility that also incorporates his needs on a psychological level.
Again, unfortunately, his medical insurance won't cover all of his needs. They are attempting to put him into a low-quality psych facility which is unacceptable to me, because I know it won't, can't, provide what he needs to truly heal; to retrain his brain to create the new neural pathways he needs to regain his speech and ability to take care of himself, along with some semblance of freedom of identity and self expression. The ability to truly be alive again and not a high-functioning vegetable.
That's why I'm asking for the $5,000. With that money, we would be able to place him at a high-quality facility which is also located close enough to home for my mother to be able to travel there daily to assist my brother and give him the love he so desperately needs right now.
I'm hoping that those who see this gofundme campaign and read my words will be moved enough to donate $5. That's my intent. I'm hoping to somehow reach a thousand people willing to donate $5 to reach my goal.
This campaign is about my brother, but not only about him. This is about all of the boys who were sexually abused as children. It's a massive affliction within the gay community.
My brother was sexually abused for years by my father's best friend without our knowledge. I, too, was abused by this man, but it wasn't as intense or lengthy as my brother's suffering. I could just as easily be in his position. I've also lived a life with mental illness and living through suicidality and suicide attempts.
This abuse destroyed my brother's spirit and mind. He developed PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, and Social Anxiety.
It's a quiet, pervasive issue within the gay community. Childhood sexual abuse and its correlation and causation of mental illness and mental health challenges.
So, yes, this is about my brother. But, it is also about you. Whether or not you yourself experienced abuse and struggled with your own mind, you probably know someone who has suffered, who is suffering, maybe even without you knowing.
Please, if you are able, consider donating $5 to my campaign. I cannot express in words just how much it would mean to me and my family - and ultimately my brother - and how grateful I would feel and how much of a blessing each and every dollar you donate would mean to me.
Even if you don't donate for whatever reason, I am very grateful for you even reading my words.
Thank you!!
In honor, love, and light!
Eric K. Kiszely
Organizer
Eric Kiszely
Organizer
Sarasota, FL
