Recovery Fund

Making this feels really tough. I’m so happy to do this for other people, but doing it for myself doesn’t feel fun. I also know I have no other options. I honestly feel embarrassed and scared, but if there was ever a time to ask for help… it’s now.

As many of you know, I almost lost my life on Halloween. In mid-October, I took a fall down two flights of stairs and landed on my tailbone. After taking almost two weeks off to recover at home, I realized that things were getting worse. Quickly. The pain was unbearable.

What I didn’t know at the time is that I had something called a pilonidal cyst, and the fall had exposed it. The cyst became infected, and I headed to the ER where I was told I had a skin infection. I was sent home with antibiotics and a rest regimen. Within 24 hours, I began to drastically decline and entered sepsis. When I arrived at the hospital, my heart rate was 155, and my BP was in the 70s and 80s.

On November 1st, I had surgery to remove the cyst and cut away the dead tissue. After culturing the cyst, we discovered I had multiple infections, which has slowed my healing process.

I haven’t been able to sit down or lay on my back. It’s been over a week since I’ve been able to shower or get to the bathroom by myself. I miss my dogs and my life.

But the hardest part of all of this is that I cannot afford to take this much time off work. As an independent hairstylist, when I’m not at work, I’m not making any money. And I’m panicking.

A breakdown of monthly expenses and bills includes:

Home rent - $1700

Salon rent - $1200

Electric - $150

Phone - $95

Car - $400

Pets - $85

Food & House supplies - $350

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I will likely be out of the salon for all of November. I’m hoping to be back in December. I really do not want to ask for more than I need, and I know so many folks have already been kind enough to send me some funds through Venmo… but that’s already all gone.

When I go home, I’d definitely love to see y’all, but right now I just can’t have visitors at the hospital.

I’m waiting to add dates until I know exactly when I’m going home, but if you’d like to hop on my meal train, please reach out to me individually for the link because I’m not trying to put my address on the Internet like that.

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Thank y’all for being here for me. It’s been scary, and knowing how much support I have on the outside has made a huge difference.