Laura and Scott asking for help

Hello,

My name is Laura Acquard, and I am writing this on behalf of my husband and myself. I hate to have to even go this route, but unfortunately, we are out of options.

Let me tell you our story. We moved to San Antonio TX. 3 years ago from Buffalo NY. At that point, my husband Scott's health was starting to go downhill. His shoulders hurt him so bad, he would wake up screaming every night, several times a night. As we searched for answers as to what was causing this pain, it continued to get worse, as well as move down his arms. We found a rheumatologist who came highly recommended to us, and we set up an appointment for him. On his first appointment with this Dr, he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. So they prescribed him some meds to combat that. Meanwhile, Scott has been out of work for about a year at this point, just due to his pain level alone. On his second appointment with the rheumatologist, he was diagnosed with another disease non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA), which in easier terms, basically is another autoimmune disease, that is eating away at the healthy tissue in his body. It's a lot like Rheumatoid Arthritis but wider spread.

So my husband has 2 autoimmune diseases, Fibromyalgia and nr-axSpA. He's also a type 1 diabetic with peripheral neuropathy. So, the treatment for this new diagnosis for my husband is a shot that he takes every 2 weeks, however, this shot cost $5k a piece. He takes it every 2 weeks in order to function somewhat normally. He still misses work every few weeks due to his ailments, and that makes us fear job security.

When I was working I had great health insurance. So the shot was mostly covered. However, in January of this year, all of the sudden my balance started to become very poor. It continues to get worse. I fall constantly and am mostly in a wheelchair now. I have been out of work since February, first on short term disability, considering I can't walk without help, for fear of falling. My husband has to help me get in and out of the shower, as well as in and out of bed, and back and forth to the bathroom. Even still, I will fall at least once a day, and that is considered a good day for me. I have a bruise the size of a small pumpkin on my lower back from a fall. Another fall I cracked my head and needed stitches. On August 25th, I fell and broke my neck and had to have surgery. The surgery fused c5 through T1. I fell and cut my face again yesterday. I’m not trying to whine, I am just telling you how bad it has got and tell you why we are asking for help.

So far the Drs don't have many answers, as to why my balance is so bad. I have both Klipel Fiel Syndrome and (Recently diagnosed) Parkinson's Disease. The combination could be the cause. Because of the surgery and the ongoing balance loss, the doctor took me out of work through November 26th. However, my short term disability ran out on August 8th.. and that stopped me from having health insurance for both of us. Cobra is offered, but it is $1400 dollars a month for Cobra.

So needless to say, we have had a ton of health issues and that comes with tons of bills. There is no way to afford the Cobra health insurance with just Scott working. As you can imagine, we need health insurance badly. So, while we hate to ask for any more help, we have to. It’s simply to help us cover the cobra health insurance through the end of this year, as well as the mounting Dr bills and medications. Between the two of us we take $13,000 worth of medications per month. With our insurance unclear we have to pay more than we did with the other insurance. Anything you can afford, it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you ahead of time for your generosity. Thank you all for all of the help that you have already given us. We can’t express our gratitude enough!