Medical Bills Eat Before We Do

Hello, my name is Ashley, and I'm a proud mother of one son, many rescue animals and the wife of my very best friend.

I dedicated many years to teaching preschool until my health started taking a turn. It was slow at first, and then faster. In a matter of years I could no longer do the work I love, or most of my hobbies. My body did not care if I loved early childhood education, or if I wanted a child myself. It took 4 years of IVF to concieve our precious boy.

Maybe it was exposure to too many ACEs (Adverse Childhood Events). Maybe it's genetic -- harder to tell on account of an odd adoption situation. In any case, something has been increasingly, painfully, debilitatingly wrong in my body. After over ten years of seeing specialists of now I've been diagnosed with POTS, Endometriosis, PCOS, Interstitial Cystitis, and persistent Proctalgia Fugax. These diagnoses are much more descriptive than proscriptive. They speak to what a disease is but not how to treat it, and certainly not what causes it. They also fail to capture the full spectrum of my ailments.

Having had so many procedures and specialist visits, we're drowning in medical debt, no longer able to afford groceries, let alone our bills. Our relatives have helped us, but there is only so much they can give.

Our current payment plan with our local hospital has risen to a toasty $900 a month. Our combined healthcare spending in a month, between insurance, copays, prescriptions, the famed "payment plans", and yes -- the debt collectors -- handily dwarfs our mortgage.

My husband has been putting in job applications all year all the while taking care of our son and working diligigently on his two young businesses. So far, nothing has been enough to dig us out.

To be realistic, I've set the goal at $9,000. This is equal to one set of outstanding debts with one hospital. It isn't nearly the whole of it, but it is enough to prevent some critical damage. We are close to being sent to collections again.

I am very humiliated to be here and to ask this of you, but please, please help our little family get through this. It would mean a lot to just be able to buy my toddler his favorite yogurts again. Give what you can, share where you can, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you.