Hello, Internet Friends.

I've been struggling with starting this GoFundMe for months, hoping I could work enough hours to catch up on our bills so I won't need the help. Turns out, my family could really, really use some help.

In May of 2017, my husband, Ian was driving home after a 20 hour shift (nope, not a typo) and only made it halfway, ending up in a ditch. He called me to let me know he was waiting for Emergency Services. I followed the ambulance to the hospital where X-rays showed Ian's foot was crushed, a few ribs cracked, and his head where it hit the car wasn't feeling that great either.

We got him on the wait-list for surgery so they could remove the crushed bone pieces and place screws in his foot to keep it together. That was the beginning of a long recovery period. Months of physical therapy, piles of medical bills, and the insurance company forgetting to send disability payments on time sent our finances down the drain in a hot minute.

We were forced to sell our house to cover some of the debt we accumulated, and moved into a cozy apartment. Ian and I got straight to work paying down the thousands of dollars in hospital/doctor and credit card bills that were adding up.

During this time we were learning that the extent of Ian's injuries weren't just bruises and breaks. He has a brain injury that affects his short term memory and the way he processes his thoughts. As you might have guessed, having this disability makes juggling work responsibilities and handling every day tasks really difficult.

I found out pretty quickly that managing our new normal was starting to take a toll on my health. (My man needs reminding to stay on task, so I've found that I am in charge of managing our household To Do List.) I dialed up my work hours to hammer away at the debt pile. Let's just say that mixing financial stress with exhaustion and panic level worries that your Person isn't able to navigate life in the same way is not a good combo.

In December 2023 I had myself a Holiday Heart Attack. My blood pressure was so high I landed in the ICU for days. The hospital staff's recommendation that I "manage your stress better" was almost laughable. Like, we're doing the best we can, here. But there's no winning at The System when you cannot afford to cover your dang bills. Just being in the hospital knowing it was adding thousands more to our debt daily was overwhelming.

Over the next several months, Ian was running back and forth from work and home, taking care of me while I recovered. Every adjustment to my heart medications meant another several weeks of adjusting to the side effects. (Like a bad Cha Cha...two steps forward, nine steps backward...)

By May of 2024 Ian is no longer able to keep up with the workload. The ADA (Americans With Disabilities) Accommodations on file should have protected him from coming into work on the weekends, enduring nearly 60 hour work weeks, but nobody cared. Ian's health had deteriorated so much he had to resign.

The same scenario our family went through with Ian's car accident in 2017 just replayed itself. The Universe with its messed up sense of humor re-gifted us another round of medical debt. With both of us not working last year, we are now rocking Six Figures of debt.

My hope is that there is a way for us to catch up on our payments. Just being able to cover even one month of payments, giving our family a chance at finding some solid ground, would be life changing.

After 8 years of struggling with major health issues and the obscene amounts of debt that comes with that...we are just so tired. Our kids are now adults who've had a front row seat at seeing our household come down almost overnight.

Our family is used to facing whatever comes our way head on. We're problem solvers, we're not afraid of putting in hard work, we're also really good at lifting ourselves up with our sassy sense of humor. This time it just hasn't been enough to keep us from being buried under a mountain of debt.

Thank you so much for reading through our family's struggles. Please keep us in your thoughts as we try to navigate our way through this and hopefully on to better days!

Most Sincerely,

Ian and Jessica,

the Reddoch Family

Update:

We are ever so grateful for the messages of encouragement that have been sent our way. We were able to cover the monthly payment on one of our credit cards - paid in full and on time - something we could not have done without your support. Thank you, Friends, for helping us move things in a good direction.

All the words of encouragement, all the positive thoughts , every share is greatly appreciated.

-Ian and Jessica