I'm Hope Maruzo and I'm raising funds for care for my husband, Gerry Shultz. Gerry has Parkinson's disease, the same disease Michael J Fox has, and Lewy Body Dementia, the same disease that Robin Williams had, and has recently been on a decline. He is going to need increasing cognitive and mobility care and equipment. Right now he needs a shower chair, a wheelchair, and a ramp to get into the house because he can't always handle the stairs.

Except for Gerry's Social Security, which isn't a lot of money, we are broke and in real trouble. I have been a fulltime caregiver for the past year and a half. Gerry's falls have increased from one a month to up to 6 a week. He has become increasingly disoriented and forgetful. I have been unable to work because I'm taking care of him. Gerry cannot be left alone. I have been seeking remote work but am concerned how that will affect my caregiving. We have no family in the area that can help so it's all up to me at this point.

Up until last summer we had things taken care of, but then we were scammed out of our life savings. We hired a company to create a website for Gerry's football contest and at first things seemed okay, but they kept insisting that we pay more money for changes, servers, storage, and more. They charged us to create apps for the site that we never received. They took advantage of our ignorance about how reputable website developers handle charges.

They told us our site had violated someone else's trademark and we had to pay to redesign it. They told us our site was under attack and losing data and we had to pay more money to fight it.

They encouraged us to trademark our site and told us a significant amount of the money would be refunded to us. They told us our category of site had to go through four increasingly expensive levels of trademark and when we said we couldn't afford it they told us that since we had started the process the government would serve papers on us and sue us if we didn't finish paying. We were threatened with lawsuits more than once and we paid because we were afraid of what they said would happen to us.

Looking back there were so many red flags but we were kept so off balance by the threats and extortion and the pressure of short timelines that we didn't notice them at the time. We feel so stupid.

When it came time for the refund we were promised, we were told we had to pay more money to get it. By then we had realized how badly we had been taken advantage of. Needless to say, there was no refund. We have filed a police report but nothing has come of it yet.

Of the $200,000 we are seeking, $100,000 would go to paying off our mortgage so Gerry's Social Security can cover our monthly bills. The remaining $100,000 would go to costs for equipment and care for Gerry's increasing cognitive and mobility issues.

Any donation is appreciated, but would you consider helping us out with $100 to get us to our goal faster? We are grateful for any amount you can give.