As many of you know, I used to be incredibly overweight, and as a result I suffered abdominal wall damage as well as a hernia. While for years these problems were asymptomatic, recently, they've begun to contribute to chronic lower back and abdominal pain in addition to several other problems, and my doctor recommended having surgery to alleviate these issues as well as take pressure off of a hiatal hernia that would be difficult and expensive to operate on. Unfortunately, insurance has deemed this an elective rather than necessary surgery and won't cover any of the costs. Prior to last Summer, I was planning on paying out of pocket when COVID had ended; unfortunately, as most of my friends also know, I was laid off due to circumstances beyond my control last June. While I've kept myself afloat financially with freelance work since, it's not enough to go out of pocket on surgery, even with care credit, and my symptoms have gotten worse over the past several months. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't be asking for money, but, after 2020, I'm no longer living in normal circumstances, and I could really use a hand.