<div>“My Dad is my hero and has saved others' lives. Now can you help him when his life is in need of rescuing?” said my daughter Violet.

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<div>I’ve found it very hard to ask for help since so many people are in need, and my daughter and multiple other friends have encouraged me to ask for help and share my story.

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<div>My name is Nick, and I’m going through financial struggles due to rare life-threatening medical conditions. Being fully disabled, I cannot raise money myself to pay for my much-needed medications and treatments.

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<div>Just recently, I woke up and lost five teeth as I opened my mouth. I also missed four hundred days of high school when I was younger due to these major illnesses. By the time I was twenty, I had already had a heart infection that nearly took my life called pericarditis from heart failure and then viral meningitis. I even struggled with early stages of multiple organ failure.

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<div>I have Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome that causes all of my soft tissue to be fragile. I’ve sustained everything from holes in my organs to full ruptures of tendons and ligaments, as well as daily dislocations, and it has caused degenerative spinal disease. For instance, I coughed and collapsed my lung.

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<div>I also have Familial Dysautonomia, which causes my whole body's autonomic system not to function, causing everything from heart attacks and other conditions that cause me to pass unconscious, like POTS, syncope, and vasovagal. It makes me immune-compromised as well, as my body is unable to produce proper levels of body chemicals that affect my brain function and overall health. It even causes me to deal with chronic dehydration and regional pain syndrome, which makes my pain extremely difficult to cope with.

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<div>I dedicated most of my life to helping others and worked for a combined 25 years protecting the community as a firefighter and State Law Enforcement Officer. I ran and founded multiple non-profits to benefit the homeless, needy, and children of poverty and broken homes. I wanted to mentor as many people who have gone through trauma and homelessness as I have experienced and survived domestic violence as a child and suffer from complex PTSD. I want to ease the suffering of others, as I want no one else to experience these types of pain.

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<div>Each day is a struggle, and all I want to do is try to stay around to see my children grow up and support them in the ways I can.

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<div>I currently am stuck living on a second-floor apartment that also makes it very hard to get out and about on bad days, and I am unable to transfer my wheelchair up and down the stairs. I have already been hospitalized falling down these stairs in my fragile state, causing injuries.

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<div><strong>I really don’t know what else to say but please help.</strong>

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<div>Thank you for your help, and every dollar helps!

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Anonymous

Nancy Erickson

Annette Long

Melina Marauez

Help Nick Overcome Life-Threatening Conditions

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