Greetings everyone. I am humbly asking for money to help pay for surgery. Here’s my (not so) brief story. I am a happy middle aged woman with a family, a cat, a full time job, a somewhat busy life, and a multitude of active interests and pursuits. The behind the scenes part of my life is a daily struggle of faith in God and a daily struggle to learn from him and understand his purposes for my life. I work full time as an EMT for a busy EMS agency that serves our military service members and veterans as well their dependents. I myself proudly serve in the military in Texas as a member of the Texas State Guard and we are primarily responsible for disaster response and service to the citizens of the great state of Texas. I enjoy hiking in nature, camping, watching good movies, reading good books, working towards improving my physical fitness, making friends, serving and teaching people. I love my family and every friend I meet and have, and I love God who gave me my friends and family.

Now to the root of my reason for asking for monetary help. I began studying martial arts in high school, Ju Kwon Do to be specific and after graduating, I abandoned this pursuit and went on to live my life’s adventure. However a couple of years ago, I began to remember that Ju Kwon Do was a significant part of shaping my confidence and personality in high school and I wanted to go back to study again as a way to motivate me to continue to improve my physical fitness. I was not sure that same instructor was teaching still and I was not sure if anyone else was teaching Ju Kwon Do. Finally I found the same instructor last year and I returned to studying Ju Kwon Do with him. He told me that my skill level was like I had never left and that he wanted me to train to take the black belt exam to obtain my 1st degree black belt. I trained hard last year, and on the day of the exam I was ready. I and the rest of the black belt candidates were working hard throughout the exam, making every effort to demonstrate that we deserved the promotion to black belt as well as every responsibility and expectation of being a black belt in any serious pursuit of martial arts study. During the exam while I was attempting to perform a roundhouse kick, I felt my right knee pop and collapse and I fell to the floor in pain. In spite of my injury, I was promoted and granted a 1st degree black belt, a humble honor to receive.

Later that day, I had to call my supervisor at work to tell him that I couldn’t come back to work because of the injury and I had a feeling that the injury was severe enough that it would be a long while until I could come back.

After an ER visit later that day, a consult with an orthopedic doctor, and MRI visit, and a consult with an orthopedic specialist in the two weeks following, my worst fears were confirmed. I had torn my ACL and my meniscus and would require surgery to be able to return to full healing and use of my knee if I wanted to continue to work in my chosen career and pursue my active hobbies. The other alternative would be to let my ACL form scar tissue, do some physical rehab and have less than 80% function back of my knee but with much higher risk of injury if I attempted to live the active lifestyle that I enjoyed.

I prayed to God about what to do, and I shouted at him for allowing this to happen to me. I was angry and scared and completely lost. If I had been stubbornly ignoring God for provision in my life, well he had my attention. He told me to trust him. I said okay. But I didn’t at first. I knew this would cost lots of money, so I began brainstorming how to pay for it. I had medical insurance last year, but our company switched to a new carrier to start this new year and during open enrollment, I opted out because I could not afford the monthly premium. That option was out. I researched to see if I could get insurance through the government marketplace, but none of them were really that affordable and wouldn’t cover the injury because it was a “pre-existing condition”. I considered selling my truck, but it won’t sell for very much and likely won’t even cover half of the cost. I even spent a couple of dollars playing the lottery, but gained nothing.

So I raged at God, still angry and wanting to blame him even though I knew that there was no where and no one to put my blame on. It’s a good thing God is patient and loving. When I finally settled down, he planted the idea of starting a Go Fund Me and to trust him to take care of the rest. I didn’t want to, I don’t like asking for help, I don’t like asking people I know for money, and I really wanted to figure this out on my own. But God kept gently planting this idea in my head. So today, I’m reaching out to ask for help because God told me to trust him. Perhaps this seems like a small thing, but this is the hardest and most humbling thing I have ever had to do in my life.

The time I can expect to miss from work would be 2-3 months after the surgery. I haven’t been employed long at this particular agency so I don’t have much paid time off; it was actually paid out in December since I couldn’t go back to work. I am currently on a leave without pay status. I won’t have a way to pay my medical bills or any of my regular monthly bills. I trust God that he will take care of this, so I’m reaching out for your help to give whatever you can, share this with others, and pray if you pray. And trust God with me; help me by encouraging me to continue to trust God. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.