Support Franklin: Disabled Veteran in Need

Hello,

My name is Franklin and I am a disabled American Veteran. I served six years in the Marine Corps. I loved what I did, and I was good at it. But I had to get out, I had seen too much. The nightmares would not stop, the flash backs intensified. Towards the end of my tour of duty, I was too hurt and lost. No one saw just how far down the rabbit hole I had fallen. I got out in 2001, went to the VA for help finding a job and all they had were jobs sweeping floors, in other states. I told them no thanks and asked for my GI Bill money. They told me I could only get a few hundred dollars a month, that did not cover one Biology book. I got state and federal grants, and I went to college, and I met a girl who is much smarter than I am and would later become my wife, and I worked as a 911 dispatcher while going to school. But by 2003, I had to get help, and it was not easy. This was my second foray with the VA, I asked for help, but they told me I had to go on a waiting list as services were being prioritized for vets who lost limbs or were disfigured in the war. So, I sought help elsewhere.

I had a sleeve gastrectomy in 2012. From the very start, I had a problem. I could not eat or swallow. The original surgeon said he could not figure out why it was happening and as I waited, I became extremely ill. I lost 134 pounds in 4 months, by then I was weighing in at 154 pounds at 6’ 2” with a large frame. I had to go on a feeding tube. In January of 2013, I found the Surgeon who would save my life. She took one look at me and said “no, we have to fix this.” She operated on me 4 times. I had a full gastrectomy, gallbladder removal, small bowel resection, and jejunostomy. At the time of the first surgery when I was at my very worst, a doctor walked into my room and told me, “Mr. Estevez, I think it best if you got your affairs in order.” I was very close to death, when the GI doctor who was attending me came into my room at night and said to me “ Franklin, it’s in your best interest to leave this hospital immediately because you will not get better if you stay”, and then he walked away. I was shocked by what the doctor said, then I immediately rang the nurse and told her I was leaving. The original surgeon tried to stop me from leaving the next day, he said he could fix “it.” He had almost 7 months to fix “it”, and never did. I needed to leave while I had the strength to do so. I was truly sick, but I had my beautiful wife and 1 year old in my mind and decided that dying was not in the cards just yet. I left that hospital, and with my new surgeon, I fought, and fought, and made it to 180 lbs. It was hard since I was exclusively tube fed. But my struggle was just starting.

I lost my job at NYU Langone because I was too sick to work. Their motto of “being a family” did not apply to me. I had to move my family to a smaller one-bedroom walk-in apartment because I had to use a walker and that was all I could afford with the disability & unemployment money I was getting. In that mayhem, the lord saw fit to bless us with a second baby. Now there were four of us in a one bedroom. We lived like that for the next six years. But we always held a dream that one day we would have a home big enough for our kids to run & play in, have their own yard and have their own rooms. That dream was tragically sped up when my mother-in-law was found to have breast cancer. My wife took care of her, nursing her and tending to her physical and emotional needs while also tending to me. We needed a home where we could have her so my wife could work a little easier while taking care of both of us. We found a house and bought it. It is perfect for us, and it served our needs with my wife’s mom. After she moved in, they found her cancer had metastasized and she was placed on in-home hospice care. It was the worst time. To watch this vibrant, energetic, authentic, and strong woman demolished by this killer illness; it was too much to bear. But my wife never wavered and stood by her mother until the very end. The love that I saw was immeasurable, so pure and true that words fail to capture its beauty and power.

Since 2019, I have been getting treatment for PTSD as I had a new flare up. I was getting stuck in flashbacks and reliving nightmares during the daytime. Within a month I was diagnosed with PTSD and was in full treatment. I treated with a private doctor until 2023, when the VA reached out to me and offered me services. I had been burned by them twice before, so I did not trust them much, but I gave it a shot and things were different. The VA had cleaned itself up. The services were good, and the providers were, alright. I started getting treatment in Nov. 2023 and have been ever since. I am 70% disabled because of my PTSD. I have hearing loss from the Marines, I still have the feeding tube, I have neurological issues that are being evaluated at this moment. I have terrible migraines, and I have a host of other physical illnesses.

PTSD does not let me work the way I used to. Before, I could take on four projects due in three days with two junior analysts and one project manager. If you asked me, that would have been an easy day. Now the thought of handling one stressful event has my hands sweaty and my heart racing. My hands and arms shake, I get cold, I start shivering and nothing I do warms me up, I cannot focus, and I cannot think of a way out. I get stuck and I am shaking trying to do my best, but it is just not good enough. Because I work for hospitals and patient’s lives depend on my fixing issues quickly and correctly; I can do neither one of those things right now. I had to take myself out of my field to keep patients safe.

We lost a lot when I had to stop working. We lost an income, insurance, financial security, and the ability to cover all our bills. We had savings but with both my mother-in-law’s and my medical bills, we burned through that money very quickly. We were left with the small amount that the VA gave me for my disability. I made a claim to see if I could get 100% disability based on my existing criteria and I was only increased 10% which according to VA math, does not move me anywhere, I am still at 70%. I tried twice and was turned down. On my last appeal, I was put in contact with a VA disability lawyer, and I have been working with them ever since. It has been a long road so far, but my hope is that the lawyer will succeed.

I also have a Social Security Disability lawyer. I filed a claim with SSD in January of this year and after about four months they denied it. I was put in contact with this lawyer and now we are appealing and fighting and have been doing so since late May. It will be a full year in January since my first claim at the Social Security administration. Even though I have tangible and documented proof of medical conditions that I am not expected to get better from, they are drawing this out as much as possible. I believe they hope I grow frustrated and give up. It is a cruel game.

Any and all help that you feel you can give will be greatly appreciated. I wouldn't come to this platform unless I absolutely had to and I feel awkward asking you for help. Please accept my deepest gratitude and know that 100 % of any monies raised will got to supporting my family and paying off Medical Bills. Thank you so much again and may God Bless each and every one of you.

With endless gratitude,

Franklin