Help to cover expenses through my 3rd brain surgery!
So, here it goes...
I'm going in for brain surgery again! This has been a long and very rough journey for us, and after being told I needed a 3rd brain surgery in less than a year, we are doing our best to stay strong and not panic.
For the last 6 years, I have been battling many, many things going wrong with my body. The biggest of them being the tumor in my brainstem, which has been causing me to develop hydrocephalus (swelling and too much fluid trapped in the ventricles of my brain) multiple times. This has also caused me to have 6-12 headaches every single day, without fail. Not ONE non-headache day in 6 years.
I've been battling with insurance companies and disability benefits from social security. It has been a long and expensive road we have been on. In the last 2 months alone, I have spent more than $400 on gas and parking fees to go back and forth from Boston for all these appointments, surgeries, etc.
In August of 2021, I had to completely stop working (which put a HUGE dent in our finances). While we battled with social security for 3 years, we have racked up quite a bit of debt. When the choice is to feed your kids or not use the credit cards... the choice is obvious (yes, we utilized any and all services, food pantry, etc.)
While I did finally win my battle of securing my disability benefits, when they gave me the "back-pay", well over half of it was taken, so we were not able to pay off nearly as much of the debt that we had planned. On top of that, they didn't take any taxes out (which we didn't know about) of the back pay or any of the past year's worth of social security payments. When normally we earn a very large tax return every year, this year... most of that will be taken for taxes from my SSDI payments, so we will virtually have no way of catching up with our current financial hardship.
Right now, we have a Jeep that needs some work - I have lights coming up on my dashboard again. I have a home (still so grateful for this!) that is in serious need of some repair - including a broken window that needs replacing, the ceiling in my bathroom that has water damage and needs fixing, we need to replace the toilet, flooring, and vanity in our main bathroom (these things are quite literally falling apart). I have backed up medical bills because Medicaid does NOT cover everything and meanwhile... we still have to feed our kids and get me back and forth to Boston with the Jeep (our only vehicle) for all my medical appointments.
Today I spoke with my neurosurgeon, and I will be undergoing brain surgery again, with a tentative date of Tuesday, February 11th - because the shunt that was placed less than a month ago has failed. Jeff has to take at least a week off of work to be home with me, but we are at the point now that he has no more vacation time to use until he accrues it over time. We literally cannot afford for him to take even a week off of work at the moment.
So unfortunately, we have come to the conclusion that we really just need help. Help to feed our kids, help to make repairs that are desperately needed, help to pay off some of the debt so we can make smaller, more affordable payments in the long run.
Literally any amount will help us a great deal, and if you can't donate, sharing this fundraiser is even more helpful than you know!! We have done our best to stay above water for a very long time now, and admitting we need help is super hard, but we really do need it. Thank you for any and all donations and shares!
if you prefer- I also have Venmo or PayPal
paypal- melissafb33
Organizer
