<div>On April 10th, 2025, I was admitted to the ER at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, IL. I was suffering from severe chest congestion and difficulty breathing. They rushed me into an ER room and immediately put me on oxygen. My saturation level was very low, and my heart rate was pushing 140. After an X-ray and a chest CT scan, they determined I had pneumonia. They also took blood for labs and blood cultures to test for bacterial and fungal infections. I had a bronchoscopy on April 14th, during which I was intubated, and they took fluid samples and biopsies of my lungs. I came to in the ICU due to some difficulty with the anesthetics. I was on 80L/hr of oxygen, and just the task of getting out of bed to use the bathroom would totally wind and desaturate my oxygen levels to the point I felt like I was suffocating. Even eating meals was difficult. I was in the ICU for 30 days and then transferred to an acute care facility where I spent another 2 weeks in their ICU. They were able to get my oxygen requirements low enough to then transfer me to an acute rehab facility where I received 4 hrs daily of PT and OT. Each day of therapy felt like an intense workout. I was discharged on June 13th. My brother flew in to assist me with getting settled. I was down to 2L/hr of oxygen, but climbing up and down my 2 flights of stairs would completely exhaust me. My brother left on June 24th, and then I was left to manage on my own. I did okay for a few weeks but then became very congested and was having difficulty breathing the first week of July. I went back to the ER on July 10th and was admitted again with pneumonia symptoms. I spent 4 days in their ICU hospital and was discharged. I had a follow-up visit with my PCP on the 17th of July and was not feeling well. She sent me directly to the ER again, and I was admitted for another 5 days. Ultimately, the first pneumonia I contracted was PJP, which is an opportunistic fungal infection that only affects immunocompromised individuals. It has scarred my lungs, and the healing process is long and slow. I'm still on 2L/hr of oxygen and have drastically limited my activity to just going for necessary groceries and supplies. Otherwise, I've been on self-imposed bed rest. My disability was temporarily suspended until I can have a re-verification interview with them on August 15th. <strong>This whole situation has lasted much longer than I ever anticipated, and I'm unable to work at the moment.</strong> I'm planning on selling my vehicle as soon as I feel comfortable getting to public transportation using my portable oxygen. Until then, <strong>I'm very humbly asking for any assistance anyone is capable of offering.</strong> I was able to get caught up with my back rent with funds from my last GoFundMe and paid August, but I'm going to be strapped financially for September until I can sell my car.

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liz kavanagh

Teresa Corbett

David Hyman

Tammy Rozanski

Anonymous

Christopher Mich

Chad Cox

Lesley Holmes

Erin Bosman

Cody Reynolds

Mona Vashi

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Make an impact.