Help us avoid foreclosure and pay past due bills

We are Shannon and Luis- people who are dedicated to working within our community to provide necessary services such as Spanish-language access to news and access to therapy for the un-insured, activists, and other vulnerable populations. We live from an abundance mentality, to give whether or not others can pay for our services, in faith that if/when we also are in need, we can also turn to community for help. And today is that day. We need your help.

The pandemic has left indelible marks on all of us, but three out of the four in our family have incurable health issues, in part, stemming from Covid. Luis has type 2 diabetes, our child Lynx has long Covid (along with a genetic disorder that causes chronic fatigue and pain, and fibromyalgia). I (Shannon) have a pre-cancerous blood condition, several auto-immune diseases, migraines, fibromyalgia, gastroparesis, and am awaiting testing at Vanderbilt Medical Center for a suspected neuromuscular disease. I struggle with daily pain and fatigue, but battle through it. I still work close to full-time, because quality of life is important. I am not ready to be labeled as disabled.

During the last few years, we had to make several trips to several different medical centers, some out of state, looking for answers to what was wrong in my autonomic nervous system. Travel costs, hotel, and food are never covered by insurance.

I finally have doctors that believe me and see the same symptoms I do as concerning. There is no testing in KY for this type of disorder. In the last three years I have also undergone two biopsies and two eye surgeries, and need at least two more surgeries to restore my vision. I will travel to Vanderbilt in October to begin the autonomic nervous system testing. All of this has meant (and will mean) lost income for both Luis and I, since Luis often has to drive me and be with me through all of this.

In short, we have struggled with bills, and in particular, as our income went down and inflation went up, our property taxes almost doubled. We were unable to pay property taxes (there is no escrow for our mortgage) for the last two years, as we had to pay the most urgent bills, including sending payments for Luis' father's medical care and funeral in Mexico.

We have also been unable to make mortgage payments for the last 4 months. At this point, a lien was put on the house, more than doubling the original amount that we coudn't pay, and now we are in danger of having the house sold from under us in foreclosure for failure to pay.

We are one of the hundreds of thousands (millions, probably) who do not have any savings or safety nets, so we have not been able to negotiate a payment schedule because we have no money to put down for a payment plan.

We are asking for help with this so that we do not lose our home. I am immuno-compromised, so moving to a shelter would negatively impact my health even more.

This past week I have gotten 3 opportunistic infections that are because of my poor immune system and stress (including round 3 of covid). While we likely qualify for section 8, the waitlist is years long. With our income at present, we cannot afford to rent anywhere. We just need some help to keep the house and pay the backpay for the mortgage. The amount we are asking for is only to help us put down money for payment plans and pay a little of the mortgage back payments. We will figure out the rest as we go- the main concern is simply to be sure that we won't have the house sold out from under us.

We already lost our true "home" when we had to leave Guatemala because our lives were threatened; and many of you already know that story. Now, for very different reasons, we are in jeopardy of losing this home. If you are able to, please help, whether that is by sharing this to those who might be able to contribute, or by donating.

We appreciate you!