Stand with Joe in His Battle for Health

Hi, I'm Joe and I have tried to make this text TLDR friendly, I know it is probably still a little bit long for that but I don't know how else to impart my situation without briefly explaining the salient parts so if you would please spare a little time to read the entire text I would be so very grateful.

This is my story.

I'm 41 years old, I live in St Augustine Florida am divorced and a single father have a wonderful 7-year-old boy, he's the light of my life and my whole entire world and the primary reason I am here now.

I have several severe health conditions including stage 4 Hodgkin's lymphoma though to my current knowledge it is still in remission and has been so since 2021 but I am not sure as I can no longer see my old oncologist and I am still trying to get established with a new one.

I have several severe heart conditions including severe coronary artery disease congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy which is scarring of the heart muscle that is so bad that the bottom end of my heart has atrophied, it does not function it's basically dead.

These issues with my heart as well as a slew of other underlying medical problems I face were caused by the radiation and the many years of chemotherapy I endured.

Likewise due to the cancer treatments my immune system is shot to hell and I got sick at the end of 2023 and developed pressure ulcers on my feet, I do also have type 2 diabetes though I manage it well and while it was not the cause of those ulcers it likely did not help.

I got sick again in March of 2024 while trying to manage the ulcers and it got worse until it turned into sepsis and I went into my local hospital here with severe septic shock in very early April of 2024 where I spent a week in ICU

And then two more on the regular hospital floor and having the second toe on my right foot amputated do to tissue necrosis, that was the start of a back and forth 4 plus months day between the hospital and a local physical rehab that culminated in a transmetatarsal amputation of my right foot or having half of my right foot amputated due to reoccurring infection... During this time I also suffered severe damage to my eyes related to the infection and the multiple months of IV antibiotics I was forced to take in order to finally get free of it.

I finally went home in September of 24 and have been struggling and fighting to regain my health and strength as well as my eyesight, I am suffering from diabetic retinopathy, as I said I manage my diabetes well but the infection and many of the antibiotics I was on kept my blood sugar extremely high which damaged my eyes I am also dealing with some macular degeneration... I'm currently trying to see a ophthalmologist to have the issues with my eyes corrected so that I can regain my eyesight but my health insurance does not pay for everything and I cannot currently afford the co-pays.

I live on SSDI and have Medicare though since I am not a senior it does not cover everything and I have medically needy through Medicaid which is likewise only minimally helpful... I am currently in a position where I am fighting to regain both my strength and my eyesight so that I can go back to work at least with a part-time job to supplement my SSDI benefits so that I can continue to pay my bills and live.

I do not have a support system or anyone that I can lean on for help aside from my elderly parents who have several health conditions of their own and live on SSDI like me due to their health.

I have a home as I was able to keep my home throughout the divorce but had to apply for a new mortgage on it in 2022 and even though I have been living in this home for more than 10 years I have only been paying on my existing mortgage for the last 3 and 1/2 and I've only been able to afford to make minimum payments... Because of that I still owe the primary bulk of my mortgage and selling my home would not be financially beneficial nor smart healthwise... Paying off my mortgage would eat up the vast majority of whatever I sold the home for and due to housing prices and rental costs here in Florida I would not be able to afford to go anywhere else and be able to continue seeing the many doctors that I need to see on a regular basis.

So it would be of no benefit to me at all to attempt to sell my home and I have nothing else.

My ex-wife and I have 50/50 custody of my son but if I were to lose my home I would not be able to maintain that custody and that would be extremely detrimental to both me and him, he and I have a very powerful bond and though his mother would never allow it he consistently tells me he would rather live with me full time... If he and I were separated but for every other weekend I don't know what either of us would do.

My body and my spirit have been ravaged by my consistently failing health over the past 10 years My divorce was very difficult and left me to struggle through this alone... I am not asking for anyone to pay my way or pay my medical bills or pay my mortgage... I'm not looking for a handout I need a hand up, due to a BS disregard of Medicare to notify me that they were going to discontinue paying for my part b premiums in August of 24 and social security not deducting money for said premiums for my checks until November of 24 I ended up $524 short on my November check and was not able to pay my mortgage for November... I paid it for December but then was not able to make the January payment as my parents Jeep ended up needing serious repairs and since I cannot drive it is both mine and they're only source of transportation at this time... So it was either fix it or pay the mortgage.

I am now 2 months behind on my mortgage and they are already trying to talk about foreclosure and that is not something that I can deal with right now... I have lived in this house for 10 years it is where my son's life began and I do not know how to start over with everything else that I must face or even if I could... I am not even physically capable of relocating at this time...

Come March 1st I will be just a little over $4,000 behind on my mortgage, my payments are currently 1800 a month but they are also tacking on late fees and I'm currently estimating roughly six to $900 to be able to finish out the treatments on my eyes so that I can get glasses and drive again... My foot is very slowly healing but it is healing, I am down to one open wound and have been able to walk on it somewhat for the past month or two... I am slowly working on regaining my strength and once I regain my eyesight to the point where I can drive I intend to get a part-time job to supplement my disability and ensure that I won't end up in a situation like this again... I just need a little help to get there.

I have left my previous goal that I had set on here at the same amount, I'm not really looking to definitely get that amount that was just a ballpark figure I came up with to originally help with medical bills that Medicare would not pay for and to help me get back on my feet to go back to work.

I am not even asking for the remainder of that amount but I cannot help but surmise that I need about four or 5,000 relatively soon to be able to get back on track... I'm trying to avoid homelessness and get back on my feet, I'm not looking for anyone to pay my way I just need a little help until I can drive again.

I have a YouTube channel with nearly 70 videos that have documented my journey since about June of 2024... I will be very soon posting a series of three recap videos that I will link here so that if you find my YouTube channel you can watch those videos and get an understanding of what has happened up to this point without having to go back through all of those hours of videos.

If you can and would like to help you have my eternal gratitude and if I am ever able to repay you you have my word that I would do it.

I cannot promise I would ever be able to repay you but I can promise that I will one day pay it forward... I refuse to be beaten by this, I will fight and I will win... I'm going to hold my head up high and live out the rest of my days with honor and self-respect and dedicate myself to being the best father I can be for as long as I can.

I just need a little help to get to the next rung on the ladder

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Wherever you may be in the world I hope you are happy healthy safe and well.

Joe.