Hello welcome to my gofundme , my name is Paul Martinez and I was born with a rare genetic disease called Recessive Epidermolysis Bullosa or RDEB for short.

its a very complex disease but the basis is the skin of your entire body and mucous membranes are extremely fragile which causes blisters and open wounds similar to a 2nd or 3rd degree burn of raw flesh. It also affects internally from esophagus issues, stomach issues, eyes, and chronic anemia from everyday blood loss.

it can sadly be life threatening as squamous cell carcinomas cancer as well as other difficulties can lead to early death.

i have been very blessed thanks to God and my mom to live a long life without any major impacts at the age of 42,

However last Oct of 24’ I finally got my first experience of skin cancer on my left hand. It was a very painful experience and on May 5th of this yr I had the cancer removed.

The great Drs at Stanford had to amputate all my fingers except my thumb, up to the base of my knuckles to remove the cancer. Thankfully the great news is they got it all out.

I have been on the road to recovery this summer and been staying at my mom’s house until I get better. As difficult as my life hardships have been I like to try to be as independent as I can be.

So I always managed to have my own apartment since the age of 18. I plan to go back to my apt in September.

This is where I am asking for your help. I need to make my life more comfortable and convenient as possible especially since the cancer surgery.

im a pretty tall person at 6’1 but I always slept on a single sized bed, and it’s just no longer comfortable for me, I’m not able to move around much, my feet often dangle off the edge , and I can’t stretch out my arm or position the surgery hand in ways that are comfortable to sleep properly .

i would like to purchase a nicer and better quality bed , maybe even with temperpedic foam mattress to help relive stress on my wounds, so I want a high quality mattress as well.

i would also like to purchase a new couch because the one I have is a very old and worn out black leather couch that is just not ideal with RDEB skin disease, it’s hot, it’s sticky, barely any cushion.

With a fixed income of only SSI I am on a strict budget and would take me a very long time to try and save for the two items I need most to make my life easier.

i would greatly appreciate any support you guys can give, anything helps. Any extra funds will also go towards other items I need for my APT as well as to be used for any medical supplies not covered by my insurance .

if you like to know more about me as a person I’m a pretty simple guy. I enjoy good movies, good food, watching sports, playing video games, going to the movies and dinner with friends and just hanging out.

Also please take a short time to watch a YouTube documentary Stanford did on me a few years ago to get a better glimpse of RDEB and my life journey living with it.

God Bless!