Urgent Assistance for Josh Pratt's Long-Covid Battle

Hi,

My name is Josh Pratt and I need your help.

A little over 2 years ago, I contracted Covid-19 and my life has been crumbling to pieces ever since.

Despite getting vaccinated, social distancing, facemasking, and following all the rules, Coronavirus still got me.

It was really bad. I had breathing trouble, passing out, dizziness, chest pains, just the works.

I wish I could tell you that was the end of it, but alas, that was just the start.

In the 2 years since contracting the virus, my health has been getting worse and worse.

My symptoms include:

Chronic Intractable Migraines - I spend hours in silence and darkness until the pain in my head subsides.

Chronic Fatigue - I have maybe 90 minutes of light activity on my best days before I crash out from sheer exhaustion.

Persistent Nausea (with severe stomach pains) - I pretty much always feel sick to my stomach. Eating is a challenge, trying to keep food down. (On the upside, I've lost a bunch of weight) and I have these weird stabbing pains in my abdomen all the time.

Vertigo (with dizziness and balance issues) - My head spins all the time now. Bending over is dangerous and likely to cause a fall. I had to buy an upright rollator walker in order to walk anywhere safely as I frequently lose my balance and fall.

Brain Fog - This is one of the most impactful ones. My mind doesn't work right anymore. I have episodes where I can't concentrate, focus on tasks, remember anything, or understand what's going on around me or what people are saying.

Chronic Shortness of Breath - Pretty much any form of exertion or more than a few minutes of talking has me gasping for air. I have spells where I have to use my BiPap machine (which is meant to be used for sleep apnea) to help me get my wind back.

Mental Health Issues - My neuropsychologist tells me I have Post-Covid Adjustment Syndrome, which, I'm told, derives from the rapid and massive changes to my life and capabilities. Symptoms include depression, anxiety, panic attacks, and mood swings.

And all this is on top of the degenerative disc disease in my spine that I already had from injuries earlier in life.

So, for over two years now, I have been trying to get by with all this business getting worse and worse. I finally moved up far enough on the waitlist to get into the Post-Covid Recovery Program at OSU and start working with a specialist.

So we're making progress, right?

Well, yes and no. I finally get to where I can see some specialists and guess what happens?

My doctor puts me on short-term disability a few months ago because I can't work reliably with all these symptoms laying me out all the time. We're trying this medication here and that therapy over there, but as any long-hauler can tell you, long-covid is still so new that it's still a lot of trial and error, throwing noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Here's the kicker: I'm still fighting long-covid and my short-term disability runs out after 180 days.

I'm still too ill to work.

The disability provider tells me that since I'm still sick, the short-term will roll over into long-term disability.

All good, right?

Only that's not what happens.

My long-term disability analyst (who is a different person from the short-term analyst) DENIES me long-term disability for having the pre-existing condition Post-Covid Acute Sequelae.

That's right, I was denied long-term disability for already having the same illness I was put on short-term disability for. I still haven't found anyone that can make that make sense to me.

So now I'm caught completely off guard with this situation. The social worker at the hospital puts me in touch with a disability attorney to try and appeal the denial and also file for social security disability. The lawyer tells me the disability provider will most likely try to fight the appeal and this whole process is likely to take 4 to 5 months to resolve.

4 to 5 months of me not being able to work or support myself.

So, I start looking everywhere I can for help. It seems this is the worst time of year to need help with living expenses because out of the 3 dozen or more urban leagues, community action orgs, churches, and other places I called, they all told me they are out of funding.

My savings are now gone, my credit cards are maxed out, and the bank just took my car back.

I don't have anyone with room to take me in and all the shelters I called are already full, so if I get put out of my apartment, I'm on the street in Ohio winter. I won't make it long in the shape I'm in right now.

I got cut off in November, so now I am 2 months behind on everything, facing eviction and getting my power cut off, and no money for bus fare to get to my doctor's appointments.

I have tried everything I can think of and I'm now out of cards to play.

My only option left is to rely on the kindness of strangers.

So I now humbly beg of you for your help in this time of personal crisis.

I am asking for anything you can spare to help me keep a roof over my head, my heat turned on, and a little bit of grocery money and bus fare to get me by while this appeals process takes place and I can get my disability income restored.

Or failing that, buy me some time to figure something else out.

I have done some math to total up the approximate amount I would need to catch up on back rent and bills and cover me during the appeals process.

So that's my story.

Once again, I ask for any help you can give while I try to survive this challenging time.

I have nowhere else to turn.

Thank you for taking the time to hear me out and for any help you can provide.

Blessings to you and yours,

Josh Pratt