Update 3/5: My arm is healing well but PT is still needed. I've made lots of progress with my nonprofit, including starting funding meetings and deploying my app. And my dad has generously agreed to cover the rest of my medical costs, so that need has been met thanks to your support. However, I'm keeping my Gofundme campaign active because my core challenge remains. I'm an unemployed software engineer building a nonprofit in a brutal job market, and I need to bridge the gap financially until funding comes through. Every dollar here still goes directly to keeping me afloat while I build this organization and refine the app. I've received a lot of support and praise for the work I'm attempting from the organizations and folks I've already shared my idea with, so I'm confident this is the direction I want to move in. And I would not be here without the help that yall have provided me, so thank you!

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Hi all,

I'm a Software Engineer with ADHD working on starting a nonprofit in the neurodiversity space, the Neurodivergent Equity Coalition. Our mission is to connect neurodivergent folks with providers, spaces, and organizations that work for them. It's been a long journey, mainly on my own with a few wonderful consultants, and I've also been trying to find more stable work in the meantime to pay my bills.

On 11/22, I suffered an intense injury to my left arm, breaking it in three places: two around the elbow, one around the wrist. I've been casted and in a sling, but I will need surgery to fix both my elbow and my wrist. I can expect to be totally out of commission for at least a week, with light physical therapy beginning then and more physical therapy happening later. I may not regain 100% use of my elbow, some stiffness may remain and I may not be able to fully extend it, but with any hardship in life, I will not let that stop me. Still, I can expect to wait 3 months until I can fully return to activities like normal.

I have been looking for work and budgeting my savings to keep up with my expenses, while also working on my nonprofit, but the job market has not been kind to me and I am 2 months behind on most of my bills. I've been job searching consistently, with many interviews and multiple final rounds, but have not received any offers yet. Additionally, I was denied unemployment. At times it seems the system is actively working against me.

Given my current situation, I am asking for help covering 5 months of expenses, plus my medical bills for the surgeries, consultations, x-rays, ct scans, and physical therapy. It's easiest to put my out of pocket maximum from my health insurance, which would be $6100. An ER visit, several scans, 2 surgeries, and PT will likely hit this limit, but I will update my goal if things change.

Please give what you can. Every bit helps. I know the holidays are approaching so any amount is appreciated. While I am recovering, I will still try to make some progress on the app for my nonprofit, as well as continue editing my novel and perhaps playing SWTOR. I still have use of my right hand, and I am getting faster at typing with one hand, but as far as playing video games, I am stuck with primarily using the mouse to play. Perhaps I can stream my adventures in SWTOR trying to play one-handed.

You can look forward to health updates, nonprofit updates, novel snippets, and maybe streams. I will also post a list of my expenses to be transparent about what I need.

Thank you all.

-Robert