Support Twanna During Her Surgery and Recovery Process

Dear Community! I am organizing this GoFundMe because our dear friend, Twanna LaTrice Hill needs our help. Twanna is about to undergo a complex surgery this January because of the severe pain she is in, and she is anticipating a tough recovery period to follow. This is all the more distressing as she had to have major surgery a year ago so to surrender once more to an operation and the recovery yet again is understandably scary and traumatic; to make matters worse, she won't be able to work for at least a few months, but this is where we come in as her village of people ready and happy to support her. She needs our financial assistance so I am asking us all to band together to help Twanna cover her basic monthly expenses from now until April approximately. I'm sure you already know this, but anything helps. If you can only donate $5.00, it will add up, but if you are in a place to donate more, please, please do.

Because of the lost income Twanna is grappling with already, she is currently unable to make ends meet in the next few months to come. If you know Twanna, then you know it was not at all easy for her to say yes to me offering to set this up—honestly, I'm still surprised she agreed to let me organize this fundraiser, but I am so glad she gave me the green light to do so. I think we all know how broken the system is and just how hard it is to survive in this world right now (let alone thrive), but such survival becomes even more difficult (and sometimes impossible) when a person finds themselves challenged by a slew of health problems and disabilities.

The following is from Twanna herself, information she wants you to know so you might better understand why she needs the help she needs:

I entered the workforce in 1978 at the age of 14. After high school, I worked full-time (40 hours a week) throughout college and graduate school. Unexpectedly, I suffered a complete pulmonary collapse in 2005 which precipitated a series of cascading system failures that continue to this day and have left me totally and permanently disabled. Initially unable to work in any capacity, I, like others in similar situations, quickly learned that I had to completely deplete ALL of my resources before I was eligible for any kind of financial and medical assistance (from the system I’d paid into since I was 14). I raided my retirement and 403B and, after more than a year with zero (0) income, I lost my house where I lived for 15 years.

Since I became disabled in 2005, according to the Consumer Price Index the cost of living has increased by a bit over 66%; during that same period, Social Security reports that Social Security Disability (SSDI) has increased about 20%. It is damn near impossible to live on SSDI alone, especially in Denver, Colorado where rents have increased on average from about $759 in 2005 to $1521 in 2024. In 2019, the worldwide pandemic transformed our society and served as a mixed blessing for the ill and infirm. Technological advances made it possible for those of us with debilitating illnesses and disabilities to re-enter the workforce in a limited way, enabling us to supplement our fixed government benefits by working remotely. As a teaching artist, I was able to work virtually and gradually transition to providing instruction in some in-person settings, as long as my physical condition allowed.

However, my illness is dynamic and there are times it has prevented me from working at all. In January 2024, I underwent a complete anterior and posterior cervical fusion with a difficult and painful recovery that sidelined me for nine weeks. I was unable to work at all.

During my recovery, debilitating lower back pain compelled me to submit to an MRI which revealed that my degenerative disc disease had progressed, and would necessitate another spinal surgery. I was resistant to the idea of going under the knife again so soon so we targeted mid January 2025 for the procedure. Then at the end of July, additional imaging revealed that my surgery would be more complicated than originally envisioned (including a re-do of an earlier spinal fusion performed in 2011) and would extend my recovery period an additional couple of weeks (up to possibly as long as 10 weeks).

The overwhelming majority of my SSDI is used to pay my rent. I pay almost every other expense with funds I I earn working supplemental contract work. Assuming that I will not be cleared to work until the beginning of April, the financial hit will be completely unmanageable. It will be catastrophic.

My SSDI will be sufficient to cover my rent for the entire recovery period, but that’s pretty much it. I would need an additional 3 to 5 thousand dollars to cover my other expenses.

I need help.

This is Sarah again: As you can see, Twanna is a hard worker, but what Twanna didn't share in her letter to you is this: Twanna is also a ferocious champion for others; she advocates for survivors of sexual violence and for individuals with disabilities. She takes her own wounds and turns them into a balm for the wounds of others who have been hurt in the same ways she has been. Twanna is also a passionate, dedicated, and talented writer, artist, actor, and director. She is a regular in my Works-in-Progress class at Lighthouse Writers Workshop where she shines as both the incredibly skilled writer that she is, but also in all the ways she supports her fellow writers in that space. She champions their craft by not only celebrating their writing, she carefully and thoughtfully attends to helping them see what isn't working while simultaneously offering smart ideas for what they might do to remedy these issues. I've never gotten to take a class from Twanna but I can see what a natural teacher she is by the ways she generously shows up for her peers and in all the ways I've learned from her simply by listening to the advice she offers others.

Let's show up for Twanna now in her time of need. Thank you!