Help the O'Rourke family move back to Georgia
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Message in a Bottle
Over the last 10 years, my family has suffered greatly. It began with a botched hysterectomy for my wife, Patti, in which the surgeon took liberty against her will and performed a procedure that caused serious damage to her urinary tract. Since then, she has endured 19 surgeries to try and correct the damage. We hired a lawyer, Richard Vinson Merritt, to represent us in a Medical malpractice lawsuit.
After a few years of deliberation, we found out via Social Security, as my wife’s benefits started being garnished, that Merritt had forged the settlement as well as the settlement check and lied to us for 2 years. Merritt was found guilty on 34 felony counts for fraud and elder/disabled abuse. He was sentenced to 30 years with 15 to serve. After not showing up on the remand date, Merritt’s Mother was found dead and He was on the run. The US Marshalls office stated they were concerned that Merritt would retaliate against those who testified. Patti, testified..
We moved from Ga to Clarksville TN when we lost our house during the lawsuit along with the fear of Merritt being on the loose. We call Clarksville “Mars”, as we have no support system here and Patti’s doctors are still in Georgia. We have to travel back and forth every 3 months to see them. Merritt was found 9 months later in Nashville just miles from our home in Clarksville. This incident made International news.
In November 2020, my wife had her 19th corrective surgery. Her parents were down helping out but needed to get back to NJ. Upon arriving home, they found Patti’s younger brother had passed away in their home. We traveled up to NJ for services. The shock caused a relapse of MS and Patti was again hospitalized for 10 days where they found she was also suffering from a parasitic infection called Giardia. Most likely stemming from the water in Clarksville. She lost 40 lbs. During this time, we also found out that Patti’s service dog has inoperable cancer. While recovering at her parents’ house, Patti fell and fractured her sacrum and tailbone keeping her bed ridden for two months.
Our landlord here in Clarksville has shown no compassion to our position as they left us without heat for a week during the winter. It has become very clear we need leave Clarksville and get back to Ga to be closer to Patti’s doctors.
Our daughter, who is a senior and has a 5.0 GPA is set to go to UT Knox next year. We need to be in Ga to hopefully take advantage of the Hope scholarship for the following year. We live on my Wife’s disability income and have not been able to make ends meet. I am a Grammy nominated musician but have not been able to work since Covid. Needless to say, we are essentially broke with no savings or assets.
We have given notice to our landlord and must be out of our home by the end of July. We have no idea where we will go as of yet. The housing market in Atlanta is such that renting or buying is well outside our budgetary constraints. What we do know is that we must leave Clarksville Tn.
We are taking a leap of faith that God will see us through this extraordinarily difficult time.
If anyone reading this could find it in their hearts to lend a helping hand, The O’Rourke family would be forever Humbled and Thankful.
With Respect and Gratitude; Sean, Patti and Saige O’Rourke
Over the last 10 years, my family has suffered greatly. It began with a botched hysterectomy for my wife, Patti, in which the surgeon took liberty against her will and performed a procedure that caused serious damage to her urinary tract. Since then, she has endured 19 surgeries to try and correct the damage. We hired a lawyer, Richard Vinson Merritt, to represent us in a Medical malpractice lawsuit.
After a few years of deliberation, we found out via Social Security, as my wife’s benefits started being garnished, that Merritt had forged the settlement as well as the settlement check and lied to us for 2 years. Merritt was found guilty on 34 felony counts for fraud and elder/disabled abuse. He was sentenced to 30 years with 15 to serve. After not showing up on the remand date, Merritt’s Mother was found dead and He was on the run. The US Marshalls office stated they were concerned that Merritt would retaliate against those who testified. Patti, testified..
We moved from Ga to Clarksville TN when we lost our house during the lawsuit along with the fear of Merritt being on the loose. We call Clarksville “Mars”, as we have no support system here and Patti’s doctors are still in Georgia. We have to travel back and forth every 3 months to see them. Merritt was found 9 months later in Nashville just miles from our home in Clarksville. This incident made International news.
In November 2020, my wife had her 19th corrective surgery. Her parents were down helping out but needed to get back to NJ. Upon arriving home, they found Patti’s younger brother had passed away in their home. We traveled up to NJ for services. The shock caused a relapse of MS and Patti was again hospitalized for 10 days where they found she was also suffering from a parasitic infection called Giardia. Most likely stemming from the water in Clarksville. She lost 40 lbs. During this time, we also found out that Patti’s service dog has inoperable cancer. While recovering at her parents’ house, Patti fell and fractured her sacrum and tailbone keeping her bed ridden for two months.
Our landlord here in Clarksville has shown no compassion to our position as they left us without heat for a week during the winter. It has become very clear we need leave Clarksville and get back to Ga to be closer to Patti’s doctors.
Our daughter, who is a senior and has a 5.0 GPA is set to go to UT Knox next year. We need to be in Ga to hopefully take advantage of the Hope scholarship for the following year. We live on my Wife’s disability income and have not been able to make ends meet. I am a Grammy nominated musician but have not been able to work since Covid. Needless to say, we are essentially broke with no savings or assets.
We have given notice to our landlord and must be out of our home by the end of July. We have no idea where we will go as of yet. The housing market in Atlanta is such that renting or buying is well outside our budgetary constraints. What we do know is that we must leave Clarksville Tn.
We are taking a leap of faith that God will see us through this extraordinarily difficult time.
If anyone reading this could find it in their hearts to lend a helping hand, The O’Rourke family would be forever Humbled and Thankful.
With Respect and Gratitude; Sean, Patti and Saige O’Rourke
Organizer
Sean ORourke
Organizer
Clarksville, TN