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I Need Help ASAP. Please, Please Read...

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Hi, my name is Leslie. I am a divorced mother of two boys, both of whom are in college and doing extremely well. The reason I am trying to raise money is because of the financial trouble I have found myself in. As I sat with my youngest son on Christmas Day, explaining to him what is going on with our finances, he actually was the one who reminded me that it is OK to as for help when you really need it. He reminded me of the many people I have helped when I had the ability to do so. I have housed people who had no where to go. I have paid other people's rent, car repairs, given money for groceries, and so on. I had hoped I would never be the one who needed the help, but I am and I am Really in need. If I don't raise at least $3000 by the 14th of this month, January, I will be homeless. That amount of money includes my rent and vital bills which are all at least two months past due. The reason my goal is higher than that amount is because the three thousand only covers the "vital" bills which will keep my utilities and phone on and keep me from being evicted.
So, as I sat talking to my son, I looked down at my phone and when I picked it up I got some of the worst and scariest news you can get. I thought it was my mother calling to tell me Merry Christmas, but instead it was my step dad telling me my mother had just had a massive heart attack. We would find out over the next two days that the damage to her heart was much worse than first thought, so now she has been transfered to a larger hospital's ICU and will undergo a triple bypass and removal of four blockages in open heart surgery less than 36 hours from now. We found out first that she has A-fib as well, which runs in our family. My oldest son had heart surgery when he was around 6 years old to correct his defect and now we see that my mother has it as well. I myself have all the symptoms and am on heart medication to try to keep it under control, but I can not afford to go have a cardiology work up which I desperately need because I lost my insurance when I lost my job.
Many of you know that my health started going downhill about two years ago. I ended up being diagnosed with early onset Rheumatoid Arthritis, as well as chronic anemia which has required frequent blood transfusions. I have also suffer from major depressive disorder, generalized and social anxiety disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, and more. I have fought through these problems with the help of medication and other forms of therapy, and had mostly led a pretty normal life and was able to work, although with lots of pain most days, until the RA had ravaged my joints and made it impossible to continue working.
Well, when the arthritis got too severe to work, I had to quit my job. I worked for TN Donor Services as a Tissue Recovery Tech. My job was very rewarding and incredibly stressful at the same time, both physically and emotionally. I believe I have a mild case of PTSD due to some of the things I witnessed, since it was my job to see, touch, and feel death every day in order to help other people live. I recovered tissue from every age group, newborn babies to the elderly. I have held the heart of a four day old infant in my hands, knowing that what I was doing was going to give another infant a chance at life. That is why I continued the job until I was unable to continue. It meant the world to me and gave me the feeling that at least I was making some tiny difference in the world, and possibly making a huge difference in an individual's life.
Since having to quit my job, my illnesses have only gotten worse, and without health insurance, I have only been able to continue treatment for the most critical ones. I have not been able to see a cardiologist, pulmonologist, hematologist, or rheumatologist in over a year. Whenever something gets severe enough, sadly I have had to just go to the ER and let them either "patch me up", or admit me to the hospital to get whatever condition is affecting me under control for the moment, always with instructions to "follow up" with my physician after discharge from the hospital. Of course, I have not been able to do so because I have been using the money I did have from savings to pay my day to day expenses like rent, utilities, etc. I did not have the money to spend on a $300 doctor visit and medications that cost literally thousands of dollars. Like I said, I see my general practitioner to get the prescriptions for my most critical medications. The doctor visit and medications cost over $500 per month alone. And those are just a few of the meds I really need. My RA will continue to get worse if it isn't treated as well as my heart issues, anemia, and others.
Until now, I had been living off my savings and when that money ran out, unfortunately I turned to using every bit of credit I could get my hands on. I've been trying to sell my furniture, my clothes, shoes, jewelry, and anything else anyone wanted to buy. As it turns out, I have found it impossible to sell anywhere near enough to sustain myself. No one seems to be interested in any of those things unless they are rock bottom prices, which doesn't help me at all.
Now I am at the point of no return. I still haven't found a job that I can handle physically. No "work from home" job ads have panned out. Filing for disability is taking an eternity, and even if approved, it wont' be nearly enough to cover my expenses. I have not been approved for any government help whatsoever. The only answer I get is that because I don't have children under 18, I don't qualify for any type of assistance. I can not get a loan for anything because I am unemployed. I even tried to get a title loan for my car but was told "no" because I have no proof of income to repay the loan.
I am out of options. Period. That is why I am turning to any of you out there who feel lead to donate to help me through this. I will continue to search for something I can do to earn money, hopefully from home, while I also try to help take care of my mother when she comes home from the hospital. My family just doesn't have the money to help me or they would. In fact, don't be surprised if I have to start a campaign for my mother's expenses too. I know that surgeries like open heart cost hundreds of thousands of dollars sometimes, but we will cross that bridge if we come to it.
For now, I just don't want to lose my home, especially while my family is facing something as major and traumatic as this. We already lost my incredibly beloved ex mother-in-law a few months ago, on my birthday. I really don't want to lose my own mother and have my kids lose a second grandmother the span of a few months, Plus watch their own mother become homeless and try to live out of my car.
I want to thank you all in advance for any support you feel lead to give. I will pay this forward. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I am honest and true to my word. I am a loving, giving, woman who has always been kind and generous to others. I care about my family over all else. I will sacrifice anything I have to keep going on for my family, but I sure do need your help now.
Thank you again and God bless every one of you. Even if you don't donate, thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please help my by passing along my story to anyone you know who might want to help me.
Thank you. All my love.....
Leslie
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Donations 

  • Enoch Smith
    • $50 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Leslie Downing
Organizer
Hendersonville, TN

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