Hi, we are Cathleen and Chuck Akers. Our lives drastically changed on November 26, 2023. Chuck, my husband, fell critically ill and was hospitalized for Vertebral osteomyelitis, also known as spinal osteomyelitis or spondylodiskitis, a rare bone infection that affects the vertebrae of the spine. It was touch and go for a while. He was transferred to St. Mary’s in Milwaukee and after a lengthy stay, he was sent home on a PICC line to give daily IV medication through his line and we had to have home nursing. We have endured a lot of medical expenses and it’s been difficult in our daily living expenses. During this time, he has been on medical leave from work with no income. His employer, Toyota Ziegler, at the time canceled his medical insurance with little to no notice leaving me scrambling to put him on my medical insurance as he needed his medication and medical care to survive. In April, his employer sent him a letter terminating him because he was on medical leave and he’s not eligible for unemployment benefits because he’s still on medical leave as this illness has left him permanently damaged. We applied for disability but that takes time to be approved.

In the meantime, I have been working 60 hours a week to try to stay afloat. Medical bills keep coming in and off costs of prescriptions have been difficult to keep up with, as well as everyday living expenses and bills on just my income. I started selling my crafts to help offset but that’s been slow going. Well, on May 20th, I was injured unexpectedly and had to have knee surgery on June 24th and I am laid up and has drastically affected the only income we have that also provides our only health insurance. When I am cleared to return to work, it will be restricted so I can’t do the normal 60 hours I was doing to put a roof over our heads. Life continues to knock us down.

During this difficult time in our lives, we have tried to keep pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps and never wanting to burden our situations on others. I have always been the person to offer the help and support to others and it is difficult for me to ask for help, but I have no choice as the medical debt keeps coming in, normal bills keep coming and I maxed out my credit card on medical equipment, the wolves are at our door. I barely have enough to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. I really hate to ask and understand if financially you cannot help. If you can share our story, we would appreciate any and all support from our family, friends, and community. And once we are back on our feet, we will pay it forward in life and give back to our community as we always have in the past. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

The Akers

Funds from this account will go sole towards medical expenses and some living costs until we are back on our feet.