Jeff Eben Disability and Medical Bills etc.
Donation protected
This has been a long, difficult, and complex time in my life and I usually like to keep these kinds of things to myself but I feel that I am at the point that I need to put my pride aside and reveal at least the majority of my story and be willing to ask for help when I need it. I have tried my best to lay most of the facts out as clearly as possible but if there is anything you care to know more about I would be happy to discuss:
The Backstory
1) In July 2017 I was hospitalized while on tour with Cirque du Soleil in Taiwan following some rather serious heart and health complications. (when this picture was taken)
2) After being admitted to the emergency room in Taiwan it was found that I had an elevated troponin level and I was quickly put into the ICU. They suspected I was an imminent heart attack risk, but after about a week in ICU, an inconclusive cardiac catheterization (very not fun while you are awake) and a near death experience under my belt, I was released to fly back to LA where I could get further treatment and testing with my doctors close to home and where the language gap wasn't quite as significant. I do want to say for the record that the people at the hospital in Taiwan were wonderful and did their absolute best for me with everything they had and kept me in good spirits despite some of the scarier moments. I am very grateful to all of them.
3) With my Doctors in LA it was found that I had Myocarditis, likely immunologic/non-viral:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis
“Myocarditis can cause heart failure and cardiac arrest and resulted in 354,000 deaths in 2015.”
4) Despite our best efforts, after 6 months of recovery, and feeling like I was almost out of purgatory, I crashed again out of nowhere, hardly able to get out of bed, and was hospitalized yet again with an elevated troponin level. I was released after about 3 days and a large bill which my insurance luckily covered most of. Being hospitalized a second time was extremely discouraging for me. At the time, I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to die without anybody really understanding what was going on until it was too late. No one seemed to understand or fully appreciate what was going on until I had to be hospitalized. Two times and counting.
5) I stayed on disability for nearly 2 years. I have been lucky enough to have insurance and I have had constant doctor's appointments and innumerable tests and treatments. Of course, usually the most effective were always out of my own pocket and not covered by my insurance provider. Beyond that, my disability payments (which were essentially half of half or about 25% of what I was usually making) only lasted 1 year and rarely if ever even covered the balance of my doctors visits much less basic bills like rent, food, car, insurance, etc., nevermind the medications, supplements, or treatments that I would need to continue my path to health. In many cases I have been forced to choose between paying bills for basic survival or paying for necessary medical treatments to aid in my recovery. I had savings and investments put aside for such rainy days as well as family to help, but this kind of setback is a lot to take on for a single person or even a whole family. At this point those savings and investments have been completely depleted and have turned to debts. I have also had to put my car up for sale as well as a number of personal items to keep things moving.
6) About 6-8 months following my release from my second hospitalization I crashed yet again but luckily caught it early and only had a mildly elevated troponin level since I was more aware of my body at that point and was more accustomed to recognizing the symptoms.
7) During the recovery process I have had days where I feel almost normal and can function somewhat normally (when most of you have probably seen me if at all) and then I will have days or weeks where I can barely get out of bed without significant heart palpitations, tachycardia, nearly passing out after standing up, severe anxiety and depression, chest pain, shortness of breath, disorientation, extreme fatigue and exhaustion etc. I have become extremely well versed in putting on a happy face to keep up appearances no matter how terrible I have felt, but if I have been aloof, this has been why.
8) I am still not quite 100% but I am luckily in better condition than I was in the picture and currently being released shortly to go back to work and I am hoping that my recovery process will proceed in the right direction without having to restart this process yet again and hoping that my career can continue where it left off. I don't have much of a choice or I risk losing my insurance and potentially my job. I have amassed a good amount of debt and emptied my "rainy day" accounts and investments paying for the necessities of my treatments and keeping a roof over my head and food in my mouth.
9) I know I have a pretty big extended family from my own family, to my touring families that I have amassed over the years, as well as my LA and music families. This is a situation that we all hope will never happen to us and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It terrifies me to think that something like this could happen to any of my friends on the road or even just pushing too hard in general. Know when to say enough is enough and listen to your body. We only get one and it only takes one mistake to create a situation that could take years to repair or maybe never can be. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!
How You Can Help
I am basically just trying to catch myself up on a pile of outstanding bills to be able to get myself back out working to begin to rectify the financial damage that has taken place in the past two years of my disability managing my treatment and day to day survival. Two years of medical treatment and bills just surviving in Los Angeles take a toll and I have done my best to maintain this all myself and with the help of my immediate friends and family who I am infinitely grateful for. At this point I am asking for help to pay off as many of these debts as I can to keep myself out of collections and potentially reinvest in some of my rainy day accounts in the event that my health does not stay solid and this happens again and I need to keep myself afloat. I have also been working slowly on alternate business ventures to help broaden my horizons and be able to comfortably support myself if I end up in the same position again.
Beyond that any help with future music industry work endeavors would be massively appreciated as something a bit closer to home may be in the cards for me in the future.
Alternately, if you don't want to donate here, our long time tour friend Julia Delasrocas also has a fund raiser for her new family and their baby that is having complications and I urge you to go help them in place or as well.
Conclusion
Thanks in advance for any assistance in helping me pick up the pieces of this situation to continue my recovery as well as a helping hand in pushing me into the rest of my life and career. I am concerned yet optimistic and am looking forward to being better than I was before this even happened. Beyond that I am looking forward to rejoining my brothers and sisters on tour to close the show that I started with them and hopefully be able to stand on my two feet to do it. Take care of yourself and those around you.
The Backstory
1) In July 2017 I was hospitalized while on tour with Cirque du Soleil in Taiwan following some rather serious heart and health complications. (when this picture was taken)
2) After being admitted to the emergency room in Taiwan it was found that I had an elevated troponin level and I was quickly put into the ICU. They suspected I was an imminent heart attack risk, but after about a week in ICU, an inconclusive cardiac catheterization (very not fun while you are awake) and a near death experience under my belt, I was released to fly back to LA where I could get further treatment and testing with my doctors close to home and where the language gap wasn't quite as significant. I do want to say for the record that the people at the hospital in Taiwan were wonderful and did their absolute best for me with everything they had and kept me in good spirits despite some of the scarier moments. I am very grateful to all of them.
3) With my Doctors in LA it was found that I had Myocarditis, likely immunologic/non-viral:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myocarditis
“Myocarditis can cause heart failure and cardiac arrest and resulted in 354,000 deaths in 2015.”
4) Despite our best efforts, after 6 months of recovery, and feeling like I was almost out of purgatory, I crashed again out of nowhere, hardly able to get out of bed, and was hospitalized yet again with an elevated troponin level. I was released after about 3 days and a large bill which my insurance luckily covered most of. Being hospitalized a second time was extremely discouraging for me. At the time, I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to die without anybody really understanding what was going on until it was too late. No one seemed to understand or fully appreciate what was going on until I had to be hospitalized. Two times and counting.
5) I stayed on disability for nearly 2 years. I have been lucky enough to have insurance and I have had constant doctor's appointments and innumerable tests and treatments. Of course, usually the most effective were always out of my own pocket and not covered by my insurance provider. Beyond that, my disability payments (which were essentially half of half or about 25% of what I was usually making) only lasted 1 year and rarely if ever even covered the balance of my doctors visits much less basic bills like rent, food, car, insurance, etc., nevermind the medications, supplements, or treatments that I would need to continue my path to health. In many cases I have been forced to choose between paying bills for basic survival or paying for necessary medical treatments to aid in my recovery. I had savings and investments put aside for such rainy days as well as family to help, but this kind of setback is a lot to take on for a single person or even a whole family. At this point those savings and investments have been completely depleted and have turned to debts. I have also had to put my car up for sale as well as a number of personal items to keep things moving.
6) About 6-8 months following my release from my second hospitalization I crashed yet again but luckily caught it early and only had a mildly elevated troponin level since I was more aware of my body at that point and was more accustomed to recognizing the symptoms.
7) During the recovery process I have had days where I feel almost normal and can function somewhat normally (when most of you have probably seen me if at all) and then I will have days or weeks where I can barely get out of bed without significant heart palpitations, tachycardia, nearly passing out after standing up, severe anxiety and depression, chest pain, shortness of breath, disorientation, extreme fatigue and exhaustion etc. I have become extremely well versed in putting on a happy face to keep up appearances no matter how terrible I have felt, but if I have been aloof, this has been why.
8) I am still not quite 100% but I am luckily in better condition than I was in the picture and currently being released shortly to go back to work and I am hoping that my recovery process will proceed in the right direction without having to restart this process yet again and hoping that my career can continue where it left off. I don't have much of a choice or I risk losing my insurance and potentially my job. I have amassed a good amount of debt and emptied my "rainy day" accounts and investments paying for the necessities of my treatments and keeping a roof over my head and food in my mouth.
9) I know I have a pretty big extended family from my own family, to my touring families that I have amassed over the years, as well as my LA and music families. This is a situation that we all hope will never happen to us and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. It terrifies me to think that something like this could happen to any of my friends on the road or even just pushing too hard in general. Know when to say enough is enough and listen to your body. We only get one and it only takes one mistake to create a situation that could take years to repair or maybe never can be. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!
How You Can Help
I am basically just trying to catch myself up on a pile of outstanding bills to be able to get myself back out working to begin to rectify the financial damage that has taken place in the past two years of my disability managing my treatment and day to day survival. Two years of medical treatment and bills just surviving in Los Angeles take a toll and I have done my best to maintain this all myself and with the help of my immediate friends and family who I am infinitely grateful for. At this point I am asking for help to pay off as many of these debts as I can to keep myself out of collections and potentially reinvest in some of my rainy day accounts in the event that my health does not stay solid and this happens again and I need to keep myself afloat. I have also been working slowly on alternate business ventures to help broaden my horizons and be able to comfortably support myself if I end up in the same position again.
Beyond that any help with future music industry work endeavors would be massively appreciated as something a bit closer to home may be in the cards for me in the future.
Alternately, if you don't want to donate here, our long time tour friend Julia Delasrocas also has a fund raiser for her new family and their baby that is having complications and I urge you to go help them in place or as well.
Conclusion
Thanks in advance for any assistance in helping me pick up the pieces of this situation to continue my recovery as well as a helping hand in pushing me into the rest of my life and career. I am concerned yet optimistic and am looking forward to being better than I was before this even happened. Beyond that I am looking forward to rejoining my brothers and sisters on tour to close the show that I started with them and hopefully be able to stand on my two feet to do it. Take care of yourself and those around you.
Organizer
Jeff Eben
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA