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Help Me Get Back On My Feet

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My name is Jamie Di Tommaso. I'm 23 years old and still trying to eventually go back to college. My mom, Karen, has been battling Renal Cell Carcinoma (kidney cancer) since I was 9 months old. Up until this April, she went through 8 surgeries to remove tumors that appear every 2 or so years around her left kidney. My mom went in for a routine tumor removal surgery on April 28th, 2018. Two days later, I got a call at work that she had gone into Septic Shock and that I had to get to Glenbrook Northshore hospital as soon as possible...she wasn't going to make it. Her small intestine has burst and her blood and entire body was completely infected. I had to drop my lease and job in the matter of a second; I was living in Milwaukee going to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee for Advertising. I came home to Mundelein that night and said goodbye to my mom in the ICU at Glenbrook. Somehow by some miracle she didn't pass, even though the infection lowered her blood pressure to 50/30 for 3 days. She fought the infection like a warrior. She entered a coma after two weeks fighting and they told us to move her to hospice. She ended up waking up to the doctors' disbelief,  and relearned how to speak, chew and sit up over the course of months. Now, 3.5 months later, after spending 7 weeks fighting in the ICU and 2 months at Warren Barr in Lincolnshire, my mom is home. She's a shell of herself, but home. The problem now is my finances and myself. I slept on floors and recliners every night next to my mom for the entire three months, cleaning her, feeding her, changing her dressings and emptying her ostomy bag. I couldn't work...there was no question. Needless to say, I'm behind almost 5 months now on my credit card bills and payday loans I had to take out during my time visiting and taking care of my mom for months for my bills in Milwaukee piling up. I'm really trying to get back on my feet now. I just got a job at a kitchen and bathroom showroom, but I am thousands of dollars in debt from the traumatic events of this year that my paychecks will barely put a dent in. I also was in a bad accident a few weeks back, and my car was totalled. Thankfully everyone involved, including myself, weren't badly hurt, but I also had to take out another loan from a family member in order to buy an old sedan for the time being. I.....need help. A lot of help. And I know everyone has their own hardships...but if you can find it in you to help me....I could start paying off my debt and possibly put myself my 5th and final year of college eventually. Thank you for reading all this. I know it's a lot and confusing...but know that even a dollar to me is a blessing right now. -Jamie
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  • Anonymous
    • $100 
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Jamie Di Tommaso
Organizer
Mundelein, IL

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