A Filmmaker's Road to Recovery

Hello. My name is David and this is how I'm recovering from a weird chapter in my life:

After my feature film Class Acts gained some traction, I moved to Nashville to continue pursuing my career in the film business. At first, I experienced a decent level of success, made some strong friendships, and received some promising opportunities. But out of nowhere, I started experiencing bloody stool, got unfairly evicted, and found myself bouncing around different hotels while trying to keep all the promising opportunities I had worked hard for. I thought that this was just another one of my Crohn's disease flare-ups that I had dealt with since preschool. I was wrong.

Once I moved back home, a colonoscopy revealed that I had Stage 4 appendiceal cancer that had spread to my colon and tagged a bit of my liver. In July 2024, I got my appendix removed and had a colectomy, the latter of which has had me living with a temporary ileostomy bag since. I've been undergoing chemotherapy since the fall, with plans to reattach my colon when the doctors clear me for it.

I'm incredibly grateful that Medicaid is covering my treatment - but the debt I took on before I even had a chance to get diagnosed is still lingering. I've got roughly $13,000 in hotel bills and survival costs from after my eviction and I currently owe around $5,000 on the Nissan Versa I bought before moving out of state.

$18,000 is all it takes for me to have a clean slate as I finish chemo and continue my road to recovery. Every dollar helps me focus on my healing, which makes it easier for me to get back to my creative work and entertaining all of you.

Thank you taking the time to read my story, and thank you even more for sharing and donating. More than anything, I am just grateful to be alive.