Support Shannon's Recovery and Survival

Knee is healing well and fast and I’m doing hair part time again. I can only work 4 hrs at a time but it’s something . I appreciate all the help and hate to keep asking but I still need some assistance. Anything helps . Thank you so much!

Hi, my name is Shannon. I’m 54 years old, a mother of 4, grandmother of 1, and godmother to 6. Two weeks ago, I had to undergo my 2nd full knee replacement surgery with partial tibia replacement in the lower leg. About 6 inches is now solid steel. This was necessary to keep me from becoming wheelchair-bound before the end of the year.

I now have $100K in medical bills and even with my insurance, I am left with a staggering co-pay, follow-up fees, and prosthetics and equipment costs not covered. Two days after surgery, my car was totaled. Now, I have no transportation to and from physical therapy, follow-up appointments, etc. I am drowning, I don’t know where to turn and I am desperately reaching out to my community for help. Every small amount helps in a much bigger way.

I don’t know day to day what I am going to eat or if I’ll have power in this 98-degree Florida heat or not. I hate to even type the words but I am begging for help. I can’t survive much longer without being evicted, and being in the streets at my age with a 16-inch open wound in nearly 100-degree weather with my multitude of illnesses will be fatal. I am diagnosed with fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Rheumatoid arthritis, and stage 4 facets spinal degeneration. Stage 4 is the end stage before rods or fusion. I need help, I don’t know where else to turn.

I am an artist and I will send a small watercolor postcard to anyone who donates anything. That’s all I have to offer. Along with gratitude and tears.