Keith Needs Help With Disability!

I've been resistant to crowdfunding for many years. Now I need to do it.
I was hoping that it would be for a new artistic venture that I and my friends could be proud of (and really make the haters jealous). Instead, I get to ask for help in probably the most embarrassing way I can think of.

I've had many illnesses and physical traumas and the cumulative damage to my back and nervous system has finally prevented me from being able to work and earn any viable income for the past few years. The options for pain management, treatment and resolution are minimal and have been beyond frustrating to access - partly due to Medicaid's restrictions but also due to an actual viable lack of pain treatment options.

This has also built a vicious cycle of depression and anxiety that is in itself pretty disabling - so far this year, I've already been hospitalized for 7 weeks for just mental issues. Trips to the ER for pain flares are so common that I can call ahead and have a bay subdivided so that the muscle seizures or migraine-pain-induced incontinence can be treated as efficiently as they can without really diverting their resources from other patients who really can immediately benefit from their attentions on a long term basis: all they can do is help me ride out my crisis state with a veneer of dignity.

I'm a mess. I'm broke. I live on the generosity of Cathy and her family and the occasional help of a few friends who can sometimes throw me an odd project that I might be able to do in the brief functional window I have each day. Cathy and her mother have even allowed me to live with them with no cost for most of the last 8 years.

I've driven Cathy to the point where she's making dangerous choices about her own health. She may have ended the romantic relationship between us, but we still very much care for each other. I can't stand that she's doing that and I need help changing that so that I can at least pay for at least some of the things that she's sacrificing her health for.

I finally have a hearing with the Social Security to determine my eligibility for SSI Disability Benefits in November. I'm hopeful that I'll be awarded benefits and maybe even some retroactive back pay. Cathy's generously allowing me to stay in the apartment until after the hearing. If it's successful and I am eligible for back pay, I've promised Cathy to pay her a share of the rent and bills for the time it will likely take for the payment to actually process.

It's what I agreed to - it's what I need to do.

GoFundMe handles finances, obviously. Money really does help - I can't help pay the light bill or help get Cathy into the gastroenterologist with just unloading the dishwasher (when I can unload the dishwasher) - but I could also really also just use help with physical stuff if you're near River Grove, IL (or O'Hare): personal hygiene products, scentless dye-less laundry detergent (otherwise it messes all of us up pretty bad), dishwasher pods, some winter clothing, etc. Whatever you might happen to pick up at the big box place (yegodz, I'm advocating shopping at a non-local big box place... yes, this is how much I'm asking for help) or dollar store for your own home that isn't food.

I also think that having our friends stop by while weather here isn't crappy might help all of us feel a bit better too.

If you are able to help in any way, I cannot express my gratitude strongly enough. I don't have much that I can offer in return, but if there is anything that I can do, please let me  know.

I sincerely appreciate any and all assistance and support.

Transparency & Other Nerdiness
What’s the money going to be used for? If it’s helping to pay for some of Cathy’s expenses, why am I raising the money? Good questions.

The donations will be withdrawn into a joint account that was originally created for this purpose when I was working at LCCS: my goal was to work and save money to have living expenses be paid from the shared account. In this case, the base formula is
((rent + electric + (food - EBT funds) + (transportation - Medicaid Ventra card) + (various other small bills & expenses such as storage unit, renter’s insurance, personal care, coffee out at Second Sunday Tarot, cat food and litter, etc.))/3

and works out to about $665 each month. The spreadsheet is available online:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet 

What could you do with an extra $665 a month?
What would you do if you suddenly had $665 less each month?

My paying for the things I'll need for living on my own as well as contributing to the current bills means that Cathy needs to spend less on me and can spend more on herself. So, looking at these numbers again, you can see that even $5 is still a pretty decent donation - it’s a quarter of an office visit, an extra round trip on CTA, 2 coffees plus a decent tip, or stuff at the Dollar Tree that isn’t available on an EBT card.

Simple, right?

The key is waiting and being patient. Yes, funds will be used now to help me catch up on the things that need catching up on urgently... but the majority will stay in what’s basically escrow until after the hearing, when spending can be done most wisely.