Help Kelsey Rebuild Her Life

Many of you know that I have battled debilitating chronic illness since early 2018, and in mid 2019, lost my ability to continue working in a career I loved as a middle school English teacher. Since that time, I have been relying on my savings, income from renting out a room in my townhouse, and the deep generosity of loved ones and strangers alike to sustain myself financially. I have trimmed down my budget to the essentials, taken a forbearance on my mortgage, and have sought out assistance from the county to help with insurance and groceries. I have been working hard to dig deeper for answers and effective treatments for my conditions so that I can return to teaching or any type of sustainable employment, and have also been waiting on a determination from Social Security regarding disability payments. While I have found paths for treatment that have helped me be able to survive and learn to function with a new normal, much of this care is not covered by insurance and comes at a price. Although I positioned myself well post-college by paying off student debt, building up savings, and purchasing a home, I have reached the end of my savings and accrued substantial credit card debt to keep skating by.

In this time, I have learned so much about myself and about others, especially that trust, patience, and community will take me much further and provide for me in much greater ways than I can try to achieve from my own strength and efforts. In the light of so much uncertainty surrounding my health, my finances, and my home, there has been great hope of restoration and renewal for me physically and emotionally.

I have found new life for myself in volunteering with Young Life, in exploring my identity as a writer, in learning to live life in a more gentle manner, among so many other things.

I am so grateful to learn this month that I have been approved for Social Security benefits, but unfortunately there is a gap between approval and when I will receive my first check. If I had been denied again, I would have had to take steps to sell my home, and the hope of this financial provision allows me to remain in my home if I can manage to navigate the next few months. As of right now, I have been told that I will receive my first check at the end of February.

Here’s where I have to take possibly the biggest leap of faith I have had yet in this journey, which is to openly ask for help. It has been a protective mechanism for me most of my life to rely only on myself, and to never ask for help from others; I know now that asking for help makes me and others stronger, and that it’s okay for me to be vulnerable in asking for what I need. So, here’s the ask:

Would you be willing to partner with me financially to help me stay in my home and continue seeking life-sustaining medical interventions while I wait for my disability benefits to come through? Reaching my fundraising goal of $5000 would allow me to pay the remainder of my December bills, as well as cover my bills for January and February until I receive my first benefits check. Any funds raised above and beyond my goal will go towards helping pay off my credit card debt and catch up on my mortgage payments.

GoFundMe is wonderful for crowd fundraising, but does take a transaction fee out of each donation. Please feel free to contact me if you would like to give using a different method to bypass this fee and donate directly to me.

If you are interested in learning more about my journey with chronic illness, please check out this video I created a year ago:

I continue to be amazed at the abundance of generosity I have already received from both strangers and friends, and have hope that in the future, I will be able to give back to others in the same ways others have given to me.

Sending so much love to each and every one of you.

Kelsey