I am here to ask for your help because for the first time in my life, I find myself in a set of circumstances where I cannot provide for or protect my family.

I broke my back in two places at the age of 21 in 1994. I returned to college a few years later, but the physical strain of doing so prevented me from completing my degree and set back my physical recovery significantly.

When my children were born, Joshua in 2002, and Emily in 2004, I worked as their stay-at-home dad. When their mom walked out when Emily was only 6 months old, I raised them as a single dad for years. By the time I remarried in 2010, I had finally completed my recovery, shedding my cane and the years of pain meds I had required to function. The chronic pain remained as a constant companion, but I had learned to manage my life without medication.

When my wife, Katie, became pregnant with Tobias, we were evicted from our rental home so it could be sold. We found a house we could buy with the help of family, and I went back to work for the first time in 20 years managing a veterinary practice. Then I moved on to Apple and things were going well for us.

After 8 years of working for Apple as a Genius, taking so much joy from helping people who needed it, I had to leave due to a chronic condition I had developed. The crushing fatigue and shockingly gnawing pain I am experiencing make day-to-day life almost unbearable much of the time. Katie has gone back to work but makes only half of what I did at Apple. I am homeschooling Tobias because it is too hard to get him to and from school, and he has struggled with people at school taking advantage of his deep empathy and generosity.

Our savings, once in the 6-digits, are depleted, our debt has blown up, and we cannot pay our monthly bills. Even with government assistance, we need over $500 more per month than we currently earn just to keep our current bills paid. Getting out of debt so that we don’t end up losing the house, which we now own without any mortgage, is unattainable without more help.

I am so limited beyond what willpower can fight through, which is frustrating because my willpower has propelled me through so many obstacles and trials and brokenness. I have grown to become a mentally and emotionally healthy man over my life, and I am not above asking for help when I need it. When we had the means for years, we freely helped many others who needed it without ever asking anything in return. I believe in “paying it forward.”

So now I’m hoping that philosophy was not in vain. Because I and my family need your help to reach our financial goal to clear our debt, pay our past due bills and property taxes, and plan a viable financial life ahead of us. Tobias is only 11. We have years ahead for which we need help providing.

Please share our story as far and wide as you can. And, if you have the means, please help us not to have paid it forward in vain.