<div>Hello there! My name is Joshua. I am 37 years old. This is certainly a humbling moment in my life, as I am asking for help for myself and I've never done that before. But I believe that my current circumstances permit me to do so. And I feel like this is an appropriate channel to do it. So, here we go!

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<div>My story is a long one. It's full of many personal accomplishments, as well as several failures and hardships. But I choose to live my life as an accountable individual with the understanding that I am ultimately responsible for my life and my life's choices and decisions. I try not to allow myself to be a victim in any situation. With that being said, sometimes things happen that are out of our control and we find ourselves in some impossible situations. Hence, my current situation. Long story short, I contracted a very nasty internal infection in my spine. The infection festered and became life-threatening. The correct terminology is vertebral osteomyelitis. The infection was deep in my body, in the C4 vertebra in the neck portion of my spine. When I made it to the ER, they quickly discovered the problem and I was in emergency surgery a few hours after being admitted. I was in surgery nearly 8 hours where they removed most of my C4 vertebra and cleared out as much of the infection as possible. They then fused the vertebrae in my neck. I already had most of my spine fused due to a previous unrelated surgery, so now nearly my entire spine is fused.

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<div>After coming out of surgery and learning what had happened, I began the healing process. I am so fortunate to have survived this ordeal. And I owe it all to the wonderful surgeons and infectious disease doctors that saved my life. I am about a month and a half out of surgery and I think it's safe to say that I am going to pull through this one. There is no test to show what the infection is currently doing in my body, unfortunately, but all the indicators in my blood work are very positive. I am so grateful. So very grateful.

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<div>So now I am in what they call a skilled nursing facility undergoing IV antibiotic treatments three times a day. And it looks like I will be having my PICC line pulled and being discharged next week. August 26th is the exact date. Which brings me to why I have turned to GoFundMe. <strong>I need help getting back on my feet.</strong> See, before my surgery I was homeless. I have experienced chronic homelessness for the past 2 years. And yes, addiction is part of my story. My addiction is the absolute reason for why I was homeless. So, along with the healing of my neck and clearing this infection, treating my disease of addiction is equally if not more important. My plan is to attend inpatient/residential substance use disorder treatment. There will be some time in the interval before I get a bed in a treatment center. And I could really use financial assistance until I can make it into treatment and eventually be healthy enough to return to work and provide for myself. <strong>Any help would be so much appreciated.</strong> I have nothing. I am utilizing every resource I can but that only gets one so far. Clothing, food, and shelter are all necessities and it will take time for me to get to a place in life where I'm able to provide for myself. I need to create a situation where I can continue to heal. One that promotes my health, all around.

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<div>One thing I have not mentioned is that I am also a father. I have one 8-year-old son. He is an amazing child. Absolutely incredible. He makes me so proud, every day. He lives in Florida with his mother. And his mother is one amazing woman. She is a phenomenal mother to our son. I am so grateful to her and am forever indebted. In my absence, she has made sure that our son is well taken care of and has a wonderful life. A life full of love and care and opportunities that a child needs to ensure success, health, and happiness. He is one happy boy. But he is missing his father. Trust me, he tells me this daily. And my ultimate goal is to make it back to Florida to raise this child and to be back with the woman of my dreams, my son's mother. Yes, we are still together and we both aim to continue to raise this child together. But I need to be healthy, physically and emotionally. I need to treat my disease of addiction and get healthy there as well. And I've never been more motivated to do it. I am looking at this chapter of my life as an opportunity, a "new lease on life," if you will. I had five years of sobriety before my last relapse, so I know what it takes to achieve lasting sobriety. And for this, I am very hopeful.

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<div>So thank you for taking the time to listen to my story. I am still struggling asking for help, but my heart and understanding of life and the struggles we all experience is what is ultimately allowing me to ask for this help. Any help or financial assistance that comes my way is so appreciated. I am forever grateful. So here's to continued health, happiness, and humility. Here's to making it home to Florida to be with my son and the love of my life!

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<div>God bless you all and thank you so much. Take care.

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Sophia Garcia

Nathan Spenser Soleimani

Canyon Larson

Lawrence Mullin

Shelly Kaufman

Brett Burrows

Eric Watson

Joshua's Journey: Recovery and Rebuilding

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

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NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

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US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

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3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

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openai

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Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Just $350$ to go! Make an impact.

Joshua's Journey: Recovery and Rebuilding

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Make an impact.