Help Save Poly's Family During a Mental Breakdown
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I am Poly Steve, I have 3 amazing sons age 7-14 with my husband of 16 years, and this fundraiser is to raise money for my family to keep a roof over our heads and a van to drive the kids to school with, because we are in dire straits right now. My husband is suffering with a very deep depression and finding a job is taking months, we're out of money and the little I've been managing to make is not even close to our bills. It feels like everything is falling apart and I am drowning in the stress and fear of ever growing bills that can't be paid. So I am reaching out to the internet, to the people who care and can afford to help a little family hit hard my depression. This is the story that leads us to this desperate plea...
I am disabled from chronic back pain caused by 3 ruptured discs and from a debilitating anxiety condition. Even though I'm disabled, I have never just given up. I am always trying to better myself and be a better person because I want my sons to grow up with those attitudes. Which is why I am in school right now working toward a degree in computer sciences. My husband, Josh has a bachelor's in Biochemistry and was working for a company with rotating 14 hour shift. Everything was going well, we were living on our own and for the first time weren't having to rely on my parents for money, I was making a 4.0 GPA and finally making real progress in therapy. Then the pandemic hit, the stress it caused was especially hard for Josh, who was already strained to the limit by the crazy schedule of 14 hour shifts spinning from days to nights without enough time in between. If that had been all, I think it would have been alright. I think he would have bounced back, but then his mother was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer and while we were trying to get her moved closer and started on chemo, Josh was fired due to the pandemic. Suddenly, he was out of work, his mom was dying and we couldn't leave the house. The depression fell on him like an avalanche, and hammered him into the dirt like a meteor strike. With as hard as it is to find work during these times, finding one when getting out of bed is the equivalent of lifting a house while you're confidence has been stripped from you is proving near impossible. Once all of our savings and Josh's retirement money was nearly gone I began looking for work too. Even though I knew that it would strain my dissociative identity disorder and possibly drive me to my own breakdown, and knowing how hard it would be on my back, how bad it would hurt, I started looking, grimly determined to be there for Josh like he's always been there for me. Did you know that no one wants to hire a woman half way through an associate's degree with a 15 year gap in their work history? Yeah. So, I'm working part-time from home right now and I am eternally grateful for that, because the $400 I get per paycheck is all the money we have and it is at least keeping gas in the car and the heat on. My pain is worse than it has ever been, and my mental state is hanging by a thread. That brings us to today.
Right now, Josh has two interviews coming up but the interview process is going to take another 3 weeks at least and then if he gets hired it will be another 2 weeks for him to see a paycheck. We can't afford my medicines, and I haven't seen my therapist since February. My car payment is two months behind and we owe a month and a half of back rent, not including this month. Just to get even with the bills and buy some health insurance it will cost $5883. We aren't even thinking about Christmas, honestly the thought of Christmas is just so big my brain doesn't know what to do about it. I'm already pushing myself so far beyond my limits that my blood pressure is 198/96 when it is usually so low nurses freak out. My mind and body are screaming for a break but I'm all my husband and sons have right now so I am going to keep going. I apply to 5 jobs a day no matter how tired I am and while my grades have fallen a lot I am still passing my classes too, but I just can't do more. I simply can't and even if I could I don't know what else I could do. So I am giving up my pride and I am asking. I am asking everyone, please if you can spare a few bucks, if you have enough to share please help us out.
I am disabled from chronic back pain caused by 3 ruptured discs and from a debilitating anxiety condition. Even though I'm disabled, I have never just given up. I am always trying to better myself and be a better person because I want my sons to grow up with those attitudes. Which is why I am in school right now working toward a degree in computer sciences. My husband, Josh has a bachelor's in Biochemistry and was working for a company with rotating 14 hour shift. Everything was going well, we were living on our own and for the first time weren't having to rely on my parents for money, I was making a 4.0 GPA and finally making real progress in therapy. Then the pandemic hit, the stress it caused was especially hard for Josh, who was already strained to the limit by the crazy schedule of 14 hour shifts spinning from days to nights without enough time in between. If that had been all, I think it would have been alright. I think he would have bounced back, but then his mother was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer and while we were trying to get her moved closer and started on chemo, Josh was fired due to the pandemic. Suddenly, he was out of work, his mom was dying and we couldn't leave the house. The depression fell on him like an avalanche, and hammered him into the dirt like a meteor strike. With as hard as it is to find work during these times, finding one when getting out of bed is the equivalent of lifting a house while you're confidence has been stripped from you is proving near impossible. Once all of our savings and Josh's retirement money was nearly gone I began looking for work too. Even though I knew that it would strain my dissociative identity disorder and possibly drive me to my own breakdown, and knowing how hard it would be on my back, how bad it would hurt, I started looking, grimly determined to be there for Josh like he's always been there for me. Did you know that no one wants to hire a woman half way through an associate's degree with a 15 year gap in their work history? Yeah. So, I'm working part-time from home right now and I am eternally grateful for that, because the $400 I get per paycheck is all the money we have and it is at least keeping gas in the car and the heat on. My pain is worse than it has ever been, and my mental state is hanging by a thread. That brings us to today.
Right now, Josh has two interviews coming up but the interview process is going to take another 3 weeks at least and then if he gets hired it will be another 2 weeks for him to see a paycheck. We can't afford my medicines, and I haven't seen my therapist since February. My car payment is two months behind and we owe a month and a half of back rent, not including this month. Just to get even with the bills and buy some health insurance it will cost $5883. We aren't even thinking about Christmas, honestly the thought of Christmas is just so big my brain doesn't know what to do about it. I'm already pushing myself so far beyond my limits that my blood pressure is 198/96 when it is usually so low nurses freak out. My mind and body are screaming for a break but I'm all my husband and sons have right now so I am going to keep going. I apply to 5 jobs a day no matter how tired I am and while my grades have fallen a lot I am still passing my classes too, but I just can't do more. I simply can't and even if I could I don't know what else I could do. So I am giving up my pride and I am asking. I am asking everyone, please if you can spare a few bucks, if you have enough to share please help us out.
Organizer
Joshua Aaron
Organizer
Dale, TX