Smith Family Salvation Fund: Lost My Job to a Knee Injury

Hello, my name is Storm Smith. I currently live with my father, Daniel Smith in the state of Florida. I've started this GoFundMe to help with trying to pay our rent and hopefully avert our eviction, or failing that, possibly put the money towards moving out and getting into a new place with the assistance of family, including my mother, currently living up north in Ohio.

This past year has been very rough for me and my family. My father and I've been living paycheck to paycheck for a while, and had almost no ability to keep a savings of more than a hundred or so dollars at a time. And then on the 17th of December, 2024 my knee became injured. I experienced sharp pain when I would stand, sit down, or walk without the assistance of a brace. My doctors said it was a tear in the meniscus cartilage of my knee and that I would be unable to perform most tasks required for my work, and subsequently on the 3rd of January my employer fired me because of the injury. Meanwhile Unemployment has given me the runaround as to whether I counted as "Able and Available to work" because of my injury, and despite filling out applications and a resume on Indeed and sending it to prospective employers, I have not been able to find work, and when I've gotten interviews, the conversation ended after explaining the nature of my injury.

In the interim, I elected, on advice of my doctors and my surgeon, to correct my injury surgically, as the alternative would be trying to continue walking with an injured knee and regularly taking cortisone shots. I went into the hospital on the 11th of February, almost two months after the injury had prevented me from working and earning money. I went under at 9 o'clock in the morning expecting to go home that afternoon, but unfortunately would not fully regain consciousness until 7 o'clock in the evening on the 12th. I had aspirated during the surgery, and my father had been forced to leave the hospital while I was in the ICU with little idea of what was going on, and wouldn't be fully soothed until I was lucid enough to be able to give him and my mother updates about my condition over the phone. I stayed in the hospital recovering until the 15th, spending much of my stay there on oxygen and coughing up blood, scabs, and other fluid from my lungs while I healed from surgery and what was effectively the second bout of pneumonia I've suffered in less than a year. The surgery, thankfully was a success and much of my pain was relieved, though I still would need time to heal and exercise my knee back to some semblance of previous working condition. I've spent the intervening time between then and now convalescing at home with my father and cat, trying my best to walk on my leg so as to keep it healthy post surgery.

Because of these long and painful circumstances, as of the 10th of this month, March of 2025, I and my father are currently facing an eviction. Our Rent is $1547 with roughly a $130 dollar late fee, not including fees for legal retainers our landlords have charged us for late payments in the past. We've been unable to keep more than $250 in the joint account we use for rent, as we've had to pay our bills and much of our groceries during this time out of pocket, and as I have no source of income nor savings, have been unable ameliorate these circumstances. Thankfully though we are now receiving food stamps which will be keeping us fed through March, and possibly into April. Silver linings.

I've asked for money on GoFundMe before, both for troubles with rent, and for my previous bout of pneumonia requiring me to leave work for an extended period of time, hampering my income.

I hesitated to start this up again, largely out of a personal sense of shame at my inability to control circumstances which exist largely outside of my ability to control. A close and dear friend has persuaded me to start it up again, in spite of this shame.

The reason I'm asking for $2000 is because there's a high likelihood we may not be able to stay here even if we manage to pay our rent. If we are not able to make our rent, any funds paid to us will go towards moving out of this apartment. We've already had to discuss this possibility with my mother and extended family up in Ohio.

Things are so up in the air. I wish I could state for certain and more clearly every expense your money will go towards. I can only give assurances that, despite the tragedy we've faced, we're trying to improve our situation and that your money will not go to waste.

Every little bit will help, and will be appreciated. If you're unable to give while living in the recession economy that we're all experiencing, I totally understand and feel your hardship. I only ask then that you then please share this around on social media or wherever you might be able to so that it might be seen by someone who may have money to give. I hope that wherever this finds you and in whatever circumstances, that all of you who read this are healthy and happy and I give you my thanks, thoughts and prayers.