Support for Health, Rent & Tour — Help Me Keep Rockin'

With vulnerability, I’m reaching out to this community as I’m going through a difficult financial time and truly need some support.

I lost my job about five months ago, and since then I’ve been doing everything I can to stay afloat. At the same time, I’ve been dealing with ongoing health issues that I’m still trying to get under control.

For most of the past year, I believed I was just dealing with lingering effects of COVID — things like fatigue, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. I pushed through, assuming it would eventually pass. But recently, I was diagnosed with pretty severe asthma — a diagnosis that came as a surprise and finally explained so many of the illnesses and health struggles I had been facing without knowing the root cause.

At its worst, I was even choking in my sleep and waking up gasping for air. Not understanding what was happening made it even scarier. The undiagnosed asthma has drastically affected my day-to-day life, including my ability to sleep, work, and perform. It has also taken a serious toll on my mental health, which I hadn’t anticipated.

Being on tour throughout all of this only made things worse. As many of you know, getting sick while in the U.S. without proper support can be dangerous — even life-threatening. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I had fallen ill the way I did this past year while on tour, without the finances and access to necessary medications. That thought alone has been incredibly unsettling.

While I wasn’t out of work because of my health, trying to manage everything while job hunting has been incredibly difficult. It’s also been made harder by the fact that many employers won’t hire me due to my upcoming tour, which begins at the end of May and runs for three weeks. On top of that, because I’ll be outside of Canada during the tour, I won’t be able to receive EI (Employment Insurance), which would otherwise help bridge the gap financially.

The stress of being sick, juggling doctors' appointments, and being financially stretched from the sudden loss of my job — while needing to cover medications, rent, and other basic expenses — has led me to ask for help and support from my community.

I’m asking for help to cover:

Overdue rent and the next month’s rent so I don’t fall further behind – $4,000

Medication and essential vitamins to manage my health – $500

A small amount to keep me going while on tour (food, basics, etc.) – $1,000 CAD / $700 USD for 3 weeks

I’ve explored every financial support option I could find, but nothing has come through in a meaningful way. This is my last shot at staying on top of things and avoiding a deeper financial hole. I’d love to be able to rock this tour with my band without the fear of returning home to mounting debt.

Any amount helps, and even just sharing this means a lot.

Thank you so much,

Kali-Ann