Greetings,

My name is Stacy and I'm a single mom who is also disabled due to a seizure condition and currently on chemo. My teen lives with me and my roommate full-time when they're not away at college.

I am currently going through chemo and cannot work due to a seizure condition. I am on disability but do not make much each month. I don't even make enough to have my own place or afford any other roommate situation. I have also been on Section 8 and other housing assistance waiting lists for the past several years.

My roommate Vaughn now has his own major health struggles. He's currently on at-home peritoneal dialysis as he is in kidney failure. Some months ago, he was laid off from his tech job and has not been able to find work since being let go. He has had 2 surgeries since then to revise his shunt and dealt with a significant peritonitis infection which had him hospitalized.

Even while going through his health struggles, hospitalizations, and surgeries, Vaughn has continued to look for work and apply for various tech jobs.

Due to Vaughn's unemployment not having gone through and the limited amount of disability money I receive each month, we have both currently been going through some tough financial times, medically and financially. Being on disability, I don't bring home very much income each month. Vaughn was laid off in February due to complications with his kidney issues and has been looking for work, but recently had to undergo surgery again to fix his peritoneal dialysis port not draining. He is recovering well but has exhausted his life savings to keep us safe and fed, and unemployment still has not issued any payments to him so we can pay for bills and rent.

I have been making things like jam and art to try and come up with extra money but have not had the orders I thought I would. I recently sold my 2017 Kia Niro in July to help us pay rent for August. If I hadn't done that, we wouldn't have been able to make rent or pay the monthly bills.

We are both very worried about being homeless, me being immunocompromised due to my leukemia, and him because without a place to live, he cannot do his nightly dialysis treatments - so it's literally a matter of life and death for him at this point.

I have always been independent and dislike having to even ask friends or family or supporters for help.

But we are in a bind right now and have exhausted all of our resources. The only reason I've even been able to leave the house to do anything lately is by winning tickets to events and having a prepaid Trimet card to use public transit.

We are asking humbly today for any donation you can swing to assist us in our current state of need. Anything donated will go towards the bills and rent. As I stated before, I don't like asking but am reminded of my mom's words, "A closed mouth doesn't get fed."

We know times are hard for everyone right now. Vaughn has contacted state representatives to hopefully speed the process up a little on his unemployment claim (he actually received two replies today so that's a good thing). But in the meantime, we need some financial help, now, unfortunately.

Anything you can donate would be so very helpful! We are grateful to anyone for helping us in our current situation. As a thank you, I'd like to give anyone in the Portland area that donates $25 or more a jar of my Wild Plum jam or the Wild Plum syrup. Both are made by me from locally sourced wild plums harvested by yours truly.

Thanks for reading this, and if you can't give, your prayers and good wishes also mean a lot!

All the Love, Stacy and Vaughn