Donation protected
Hi, so my name is Kristin and I have had to resort to asking for help. I have been battling with myself over this for months. For those of you who don't know, I have Chiari malformation and I needed to have decompression surgery. Due to negligence from the first surgery, I then needed a second surgery that resulted in a stroke and multiple brain injuries. I have no feeling in the left side of my body and suffer from multiple neurological disorders that seem to just keep growing. I have been doing the best I can to figure things out for the last several years, but recently I've given up. I receive $23 a month in food stamps for me and my daughter and don't qualify for any other government assistance. I even lost my Medicaid over 2 years ago, which has made life really hard. Now I'm getting so far behind in medical bills that even though they can't legally garnish my disability, they can refuse treatment. Finding doctors who will see me is already a struggle. The kicker is I am no longer receiving child support at all. It wasn't reliable before, but I knew at least in the summer months I would get something because it came out of his check, but he no longer has that job and there's no way to garnish. I've had no luck getting the friend of the court to do much of anything. I hate that I'm here and honestly have been afraid to make this due to judgment and sheer embarrassment. I've never liked asking for help or even accepting it when it's offered, but I've gotten to a point where I don't know what else to do. I'm hoping to just get to a point where I can get my head above water again because I'm drowning. I can't keep borrowing from people who don't have it to spare and I don't know when I'll be able to pay them back. I already feel like a burden and a complete drain on society, but I don't know how much longer I can keep telling my daughter it's gonna be okay because it's not. She depends on me and I'm at a loss. Yes, I've reached out everywhere that should be there to help, but I don't qualify because "I make too much from disability" or because I'm not a senior citizen. I can't just accept food donation boxes because of my physical limitations; I can't prepare most of the food donated and I don't want it to be wasted. As for the scooter that the community purchased for me right after this happened, although I appreciated it very, very much and really tried, it did not work well with my location and situation. I've already reached out to the church in our community and as soon as I am able to get it out of storage and cleaned up, I will be donating it back to the community for people who are in need of it. I know this is super long, but I feel like I needed to explain because I feel absolutely terrible for asking for help. I know a lot of people are struggling and I am nobody's responsibility. Trust me, if there was another way, I would be down that path. People encouraged me to do this and after a lot of internal struggle and prayers, this is where I've landed. So thank you to anyone who has read all of this, to those of you who might possibly donate, who share, and who don't judge me or send hate my way. I'm only asking so I can reduce the stress and pressure so I can breathe and try to focus on being a better mom. Sorry for the inconvenience to everyone.
Organizer
Kristin Wilkinson
Organizer
Springport, MI