Keep Crystal and Bella housed and safe

Earlier this year, Crystal found herself unable to work at her grocery store job after a nightmare cascade of medical issues and a series of surgeries on her hand and her foot. Her surgeries are not healing as planned, and she now has to undergo surgery *again* to undo the "fixes" her doctors suggested that are now failing and causing Crystal increasing pain and immobility.

Crystal thought she'd be back at work by March 2023, but it's impossible for her to work when her hand and foot aren't healing. She's now on disability and food stamps, but the amount she's receiving does not allow her to make rent and pay for bills and food for herself and her 11-year old daughter Bella. So we're raising the fundraising goal to try to keep Crystal and Bella housed and fed while Crystal continues to deal with these medical crises. Crystal has applied for every support program she can find. At the same time, the city and state are cutting back on support programs and eviction moratoriums. If you live in the Seattle area, you already know what's happening here with the rising cost of housing and the number of people who are sliding into homelessness. Crystal and Bella currently live in an "affordable" housing apartment in Seattle - the rent alone is $1600 a month, which Crystal's social security disability payment barely covers.

Crystal is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support many of you gave her and Bella in December. You literally kept her and Bella housed through the winter. Meeting this new fundraising goal will give Crystal and Bella much-needed stability as Crystal recovers from yet another round of surgery and hopefully gets back to work.

Here's more from Crystal:

"My last day of work in late 2022, I had multiple fractures in each foot, multiple fractures on each hand and a fractured patella. Within the last eight months, I’ve had six surgeries to “fix” these fractures. During this time I applied for Social Security disability and was finally approved after the four-month waiting period.

Full disclosure: Social Security disability pays me $1863 a month. I have affordable housing through the city of Seattle. Our rent is $1600 and our utilities average $135 a month. Car insurance is $128. I also received $202 monthly in food stamps for both Bella and me. Unfortunately this is not enough money to get by, let alone raise a child. More than anything I would like to be at work and earning a decent living, saving money for Bella’s college and taking us on a vacation, which we’ve never had. I've received gift cards from Bella's elementary school to help cover the cost of necessities and food, which has been very helpful. But my health is still holding me back from working at this time, and I’m still fully disabled.

I am scheduled on April 12th to have yet another surgery on my right hand, because the arthroplasty that has been put in is not settling into my bone. They need to be taken out and two of my fingers need to be fused. My hand will never work as normal again. The surgery I had on my left foot in September 2022 is having the same issue. The bones in my foot are not healing. The plates, screws, and anchors need to be removed and we are looking at having to attach the tendon to the nonunion fractures. These are my next two surgeries coming up, so I’m looking at a lot more time off healing. I am looking forward to working with a new rheumatologist, pulmonologist, and neurologist.

Today, once again, I’m reaching out for help. I want Bella to be able to continue with her soccer, softball, and swim lessons. I have applied for many scholarships, and I will keep applying. My goal is to keep Bella's childhood as normal as I possibly can. She has enough worries every day, praying that her mom’s going to be OK and that she won’t be left alone. I want to make sure at least I can get food on the table and fill her days with happiness, not stressing about money."

And here's the full background from December 2022:

Crystal has had several surgeries in recent months and has run out of paid FMLA leave at her job at QFC. She needs more surgeries soon. And even though her doctor recommends against returning to work, she's preparing to return anyway because she needs the money.

Hitting or exceeding this fundraising goal will accomplish two crucial things:

1) Crystal and Bella (pictured) will be able to stay in their apartment. This series of surgeries and medical issues has chipped away at Crystal's savings, and she doesn't have enough to cover more than the next month of rent. And if you know Crystal and Bella, you know they've already dealt with homelessness once and that Crystal fought for years to find their current stable, affordable housing.

2) Crystal will be able to get her other surgeries and take enough time away from work to recover and get healthy again.

A note from Crystal:

"I am a single mom of two. My son is a junior at Western University and my daughter is in fifth grade. I’ve been working at QFC for the past five years. I have health insurance, and I am on short-term disability. I have exhausted all of my paid leave as of October 27. I have significant limitations of mobility due to bilateral foot, knee, and hand fractures. I have rheumatoid arthritis, which is crippling my joints. I have vascular necrosis in each knee and both hands. I have had five surgeries in the past three months, and I had bilateral knee replacements last year. The only fix for vascular necrosis is (another) surgery to remove it from the bone and add bone grafts of healthy bone or replace the joint.

I am unable to return to work until I have several more surgeries. I need surgery on my right knee; several joints need to be replaced in my hands. I have a right foot fracture that needs plates and screws. My podiatrist has recommended that my walking and standing should be limited to one to two hours per day. I cannot bend, crouch, kneel or squat; I may not lift more than 5 pounds. For these reasons working is not an option at this time."