Save My Eyesight
Donation protected
I have been putting this off since February 2017, when my husband had a major stroke that left him completely paralyzed on the entire right side of his body. That's when our finances began to suffer. Jimmy and I have always worked and paid for everything that we have. Jimmy loved working and often worked 7 days per week. Due to the stroke, Jimmy had to stop working, which meant he had to sell the equipment, tools, and stocked merchandise from his muffler shop business. He did not own the building, so it wasn't like he could sell the business. He was only a few months shy of paying off his previous partner (who retired) and fully owning the business. It was heartbreaking. He was really looking forward to owning 100% of the business, and now he was losing it. His father along with his former partner handled selling everything. The money helped to pay a little of his hospital expenses, but wasn't even a drop in the bucket - he was in the Aiken hospital for a week, and then went into a physical rehab establishment for three weeks.
So now we had one income - just mine - which wasn't enough, so I used my credit cards for groceries, and to pay bills. Jimmy did not receive Social Security Disability benefits until August 2017, which was the same month that I LOST my job.
We were back to having only one income (Jimmy's Disability benefits), which was not enough to make our mortgage, water, and electric payments unless we went without groceries, which sometimes happened. I continued to use my credit cards. I didn't want to keep using them, so I cashed in my small 401K, which floated us for about 2 months, and then I exhausted my savings. After the 401K and my savings were gone, I went back to using credit cards.
I was out of work for 7 months before I found a job. I did not like my new job but was thankful to have it. I thanked God every day that I had a job. I was making considerably less than what I made with my previous employer. I drove 45 minutes each way, which meant that I had to fill up the gas tank every 4 days. I didn't get home until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on if I had to work late. Thankfully our son moved back home so that he could be available if Jimmy needed him. I was running myself ragged working late and then trying to take care of household duties. My job was very stressful. I prayed every day and night that if it was God's will, that I find a new job. After 9 long months, I finally found the perfect job. The pay was still a lot less than what I was making at the job that I lost in August 2017, but I was so excited about it. By this time, all of my creditors were breathing down my neck and calling 7 days a week, all hours of the day and night. Some are still calling me. Prior to losing my job in 2017, I made all my payments on time and had an excellent credit rating. It is killing me that my accounts have been sent to collections. I am still not making enough money to pay all of my bills, but I'm not asking for help to pay off my credit cards. I believe that I should have to pay them off because I'm the one who used them. My credit is shot, and I no longer have any credit whatsoever.
All of the above (really long) information is the lead up to a situation that I have no control over. I started my current job the last week of November 2018. I was to train for the entire month of December, and then go out on the road beginning in January to visit businesses and let them know about our services. Well, in December I started having health problems - the worst symptom was dropping into a deep sleep when actively engaged in work at my computer. I even fell asleep during a meeting and woke up with everyone staring at me. My boss had a hard time waking me up. Some of my other symptoms included very dry eyes, nose, and mouth - so much so that it affected my vision, sinuses, talking, and eating/swallowing. My vision was very blurry. I had to use re-wetting eye drops every 30 to 60 minutes. Food became stuck in my throat; so I often gave up and did not eat anything. I had to constantly chew gum to keep my mouth moist enough to talk. I was always thirsty and drinking regular Coke, or sugar-sweetened Kool-Aid every waking minute (very bad for me!). I was going to the bathroom with extreme urgency every hour. It took several visits to my GP doctor to receive a diagnosis, but in January I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.
Due to the falling asleep issue, I had to delay going out on the road (for my job) until my doctor cleared me to drive. Over the next two weeks, I got my diabetes under control. I was very excited about actually getting to do what I was hired to do. Then the other shoe dropped. My eyes were still bothering me, so I went to my eye doctor. He found that I have cataracts in both eyes. He said it was so bad that I needed to go ahead and have surgery, and it was very rare for someone my age to have cataracts. I asked if they could get me scheduled within the next 2 weeks, and he said yes. I also asked if both eyes could be done several days apart instead of a week apart - he said yes. I explained about my job and needing to be able to drive. I thought they understood the urgency. I was mistaken. I was told that someone from the surgery center would contact me in a day or two to schedule my pre-op appointment.
When I received the call from the eye surgeon's office, I was told that there were no pre-op appointments available for 4 weeks. I freaked when I heard this because I had to tell my employer that I could not drive for another 4 to 5 weeks. The scheduler said she would put me on a list to be called if a sooner appointment opened up. I did not receive a call-back.
My employer (who has been wonderful through everything) basically "floated" me in January and February. I stayed busy with various tasks and duties, but could not work outside of the office. 60% of my job was supposed to be done outside of the office, calling on clients and customers in person.
When I went to my pre-op appointment, I found out that my insurance only covers part of the cost of the surgery (and this is for the standard no frills cataract surgery - not the kind that completely corrects vision), and I would have to pay $2000.00 prior to the surgery. We do not have $2000.00. Neither of us has any credit cards, and our savings is gone. Due to my recent financial issues with creditors, we are unable to take out a loan.
If I can't have surgery, I will lose my job. If this happens, I will not be able to obtain another job and will have to apply for disability. It may take 6 months to a year to be approved for disability, and there is no guarantee that I'd receive it. This scenario is terrible. I want to work. I cried like a mad-woman when I left the surgeon's office. I was so distraught. The surgeon's office will not allow me to make payments. They need the full $2000.00 in advance. My right eye is scheduled for surgery on March 13th and my left eye is scheduled on April 10th. The surgeon did not have any other appointments available in March to do the left eye. I don't want to go on disability when I know that I can work if I have the surgery. I can't believe what all has happened over the past two years. I just want to work and pay my bills.
I was so fearful that I would be let go from my job once I told my employer that it would be 6 weeks until I could have both surgeries. I was right to be concerned.
New Entry on 03/11/19: After I created this gofundme page, I lost my job on March 4th. I am having a problem with receiving approval for unemployment - I had two "flags", one being that I worked in Georgia in 2018, and I'm filing in South Carolina. The other is because I indicated that I had health issues relating to the reason why I was let go from my most recent job, located in SC. So now it's under investigation. I understand the reasons for the investigation, but it's going to delay me from receiving benefits. Unemployment pay (if I receive it) won't even cover the cost of my health insurance. Without insurance, I can't have the surgeries. For this reason, I raised the gofundme amount from $3000.00 to $5000.00. I will now have to pay the full amount of the insurance (my employer was previously paying half).
The reason that I am asking for $5000.00 is ...
My cost for the surgery after insurance pays is $2000.00.
I have no idea how much an anesthesiologist will cost, so I'm estimating $1000.00 at $500.00 per surgery/eye. I hope it's not more.
Health Insurance premiums for March and April will be approximately $1600.00.
Pre-op prescriptions to prepare my eyes for the surgery, approximately $40.00.
Two Post-Op appointments at $50.00 each (my co-pay) = $100.00.
'
The cost for new glasses and/or contacts after both surgeries will be$200.00 or more.
I currently volunteer 2 to 3 times per month at a local senior care facility, and without my eyesight, without the surgery, I will no longer be able to volunteer. I look forward to going there and being with the residents. I sing once a month, and other times I go there to assist with activities, like BINGO, and with craft projects.
I am very independent and do not like asking for help, but I have no choice. I am at the end of my rope. It's killing me to have to ask for money. I will sincerely appreciate any amount that I receive.
I would also like to ask for prayers. I have no idea what God's plan is, but I have complete FAITH that He will make a way for everything to work out (for good) according to His plan.
So now we had one income - just mine - which wasn't enough, so I used my credit cards for groceries, and to pay bills. Jimmy did not receive Social Security Disability benefits until August 2017, which was the same month that I LOST my job.
We were back to having only one income (Jimmy's Disability benefits), which was not enough to make our mortgage, water, and electric payments unless we went without groceries, which sometimes happened. I continued to use my credit cards. I didn't want to keep using them, so I cashed in my small 401K, which floated us for about 2 months, and then I exhausted my savings. After the 401K and my savings were gone, I went back to using credit cards.
I was out of work for 7 months before I found a job. I did not like my new job but was thankful to have it. I thanked God every day that I had a job. I was making considerably less than what I made with my previous employer. I drove 45 minutes each way, which meant that I had to fill up the gas tank every 4 days. I didn't get home until 8 or 9 p.m., depending on if I had to work late. Thankfully our son moved back home so that he could be available if Jimmy needed him. I was running myself ragged working late and then trying to take care of household duties. My job was very stressful. I prayed every day and night that if it was God's will, that I find a new job. After 9 long months, I finally found the perfect job. The pay was still a lot less than what I was making at the job that I lost in August 2017, but I was so excited about it. By this time, all of my creditors were breathing down my neck and calling 7 days a week, all hours of the day and night. Some are still calling me. Prior to losing my job in 2017, I made all my payments on time and had an excellent credit rating. It is killing me that my accounts have been sent to collections. I am still not making enough money to pay all of my bills, but I'm not asking for help to pay off my credit cards. I believe that I should have to pay them off because I'm the one who used them. My credit is shot, and I no longer have any credit whatsoever.
All of the above (really long) information is the lead up to a situation that I have no control over. I started my current job the last week of November 2018. I was to train for the entire month of December, and then go out on the road beginning in January to visit businesses and let them know about our services. Well, in December I started having health problems - the worst symptom was dropping into a deep sleep when actively engaged in work at my computer. I even fell asleep during a meeting and woke up with everyone staring at me. My boss had a hard time waking me up. Some of my other symptoms included very dry eyes, nose, and mouth - so much so that it affected my vision, sinuses, talking, and eating/swallowing. My vision was very blurry. I had to use re-wetting eye drops every 30 to 60 minutes. Food became stuck in my throat; so I often gave up and did not eat anything. I had to constantly chew gum to keep my mouth moist enough to talk. I was always thirsty and drinking regular Coke, or sugar-sweetened Kool-Aid every waking minute (very bad for me!). I was going to the bathroom with extreme urgency every hour. It took several visits to my GP doctor to receive a diagnosis, but in January I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.
Due to the falling asleep issue, I had to delay going out on the road (for my job) until my doctor cleared me to drive. Over the next two weeks, I got my diabetes under control. I was very excited about actually getting to do what I was hired to do. Then the other shoe dropped. My eyes were still bothering me, so I went to my eye doctor. He found that I have cataracts in both eyes. He said it was so bad that I needed to go ahead and have surgery, and it was very rare for someone my age to have cataracts. I asked if they could get me scheduled within the next 2 weeks, and he said yes. I also asked if both eyes could be done several days apart instead of a week apart - he said yes. I explained about my job and needing to be able to drive. I thought they understood the urgency. I was mistaken. I was told that someone from the surgery center would contact me in a day or two to schedule my pre-op appointment.
When I received the call from the eye surgeon's office, I was told that there were no pre-op appointments available for 4 weeks. I freaked when I heard this because I had to tell my employer that I could not drive for another 4 to 5 weeks. The scheduler said she would put me on a list to be called if a sooner appointment opened up. I did not receive a call-back.
My employer (who has been wonderful through everything) basically "floated" me in January and February. I stayed busy with various tasks and duties, but could not work outside of the office. 60% of my job was supposed to be done outside of the office, calling on clients and customers in person.
When I went to my pre-op appointment, I found out that my insurance only covers part of the cost of the surgery (and this is for the standard no frills cataract surgery - not the kind that completely corrects vision), and I would have to pay $2000.00 prior to the surgery. We do not have $2000.00. Neither of us has any credit cards, and our savings is gone. Due to my recent financial issues with creditors, we are unable to take out a loan.
If I can't have surgery, I will lose my job. If this happens, I will not be able to obtain another job and will have to apply for disability. It may take 6 months to a year to be approved for disability, and there is no guarantee that I'd receive it. This scenario is terrible. I want to work. I cried like a mad-woman when I left the surgeon's office. I was so distraught. The surgeon's office will not allow me to make payments. They need the full $2000.00 in advance. My right eye is scheduled for surgery on March 13th and my left eye is scheduled on April 10th. The surgeon did not have any other appointments available in March to do the left eye. I don't want to go on disability when I know that I can work if I have the surgery. I can't believe what all has happened over the past two years. I just want to work and pay my bills.
I was so fearful that I would be let go from my job once I told my employer that it would be 6 weeks until I could have both surgeries. I was right to be concerned.
New Entry on 03/11/19: After I created this gofundme page, I lost my job on March 4th. I am having a problem with receiving approval for unemployment - I had two "flags", one being that I worked in Georgia in 2018, and I'm filing in South Carolina. The other is because I indicated that I had health issues relating to the reason why I was let go from my most recent job, located in SC. So now it's under investigation. I understand the reasons for the investigation, but it's going to delay me from receiving benefits. Unemployment pay (if I receive it) won't even cover the cost of my health insurance. Without insurance, I can't have the surgeries. For this reason, I raised the gofundme amount from $3000.00 to $5000.00. I will now have to pay the full amount of the insurance (my employer was previously paying half).
The reason that I am asking for $5000.00 is ...
My cost for the surgery after insurance pays is $2000.00.
I have no idea how much an anesthesiologist will cost, so I'm estimating $1000.00 at $500.00 per surgery/eye. I hope it's not more.
Health Insurance premiums for March and April will be approximately $1600.00.
Pre-op prescriptions to prepare my eyes for the surgery, approximately $40.00.
Two Post-Op appointments at $50.00 each (my co-pay) = $100.00.
'
The cost for new glasses and/or contacts after both surgeries will be$200.00 or more.
I currently volunteer 2 to 3 times per month at a local senior care facility, and without my eyesight, without the surgery, I will no longer be able to volunteer. I look forward to going there and being with the residents. I sing once a month, and other times I go there to assist with activities, like BINGO, and with craft projects.
I am very independent and do not like asking for help, but I have no choice. I am at the end of my rope. It's killing me to have to ask for money. I will sincerely appreciate any amount that I receive.
I would also like to ask for prayers. I have no idea what God's plan is, but I have complete FAITH that He will make a way for everything to work out (for good) according to His plan.
Organizer
Susan Marie Epps Harden
Organizer
Aiken, SC