Micah's Medical Fund
Donation protected
My name is Micah Fernandez. I'm a college graduate searching for work in microbiology and I'm currently working in a small production facility for chemical production though it doesn't pay much. I grew up in Colorado with a family that gave all their money to homeschooling me to prepare me for the world. I finished high school in a public school, then went on to college, paying my own way through. I have dedicated my life to continuing my education until recently.
In 2013, I started to feel strange. I began to become more forgetful and had some strange headaches. While working, I felt like I was walking around in a fog. I was treated for depression in college, so I thought the fogginess was from the medication the doctors had me on. I quit the medications, but the fog remained.
Through the end of 2013 through 2014, I began to experience some scary symptoms of numbness in my hands and feet as well as pain in my skin and in my back. When I changed jobs, I began to hurt my back frequently and thought it was job related. I then began to feel dizzy, had constant vertigo, vision problems, hearing problems, and more headaches. My right arm and hand began to become weak and I could no longer lift much weight. I began to drop things frequently and trip over nothing, which concerned me greatly.
I saw my doctor, who did a neuro-exam. She immediately referred me to a neurologist who performed a series of MRI's and CT scans to search for a problem. Some weird stuff came up on the MRI's, but it wasn't the issue. The doctor didn't know what to do and sent me off to find me another neurologist.
The new neurologist was more thorough and found severe nerve death in my legs. We discovered that I have an auto-immune condition in which my body is killing its own tissues, in this case, my small nerve fibers, which are responsible for touch, heat, pain, and any sensation you can think of. My doctor tells me the condition will continue to progress, and it has. I now have lost a great amount of feeling in my feet and legs, though I am still able to walk and move around. I am clumsy and have to be careful not to hurt myself since I can't feel much. The condition has progressed to my hands. I often injure my right hand without even knowing it until I see the injury or someone else does.
Since then, I've begun to have numbness in my muscles and some difficulty moving my leg and arm as well as severe pain in my gut and chest.The doctor tells me I have to see more specialists to treat the symptoms while still trying to diagnose the exact disease. They believe it to be lupus, though there are symptoms not related to the disease.
I decided to start this fund by the recommendation of my family. They don't have the means to help me with the medical tests and treatments I have been given. Throughout 2014 and 2015, I have accrued massive medical debt just diagnosing the disease. I am now on very expensive medications to treat the pain and discomfort. I have severe fatigue and have had a lot of trouble functioning, even in small daily tasks of life.
I plan to use this money to pay for my current debt from the medical costs. This debt has risen even with insurance since many of the tests and medications are expensive even after insurance has paid its part. I met my deductible as well as my out of pocket maximums, but there are numerous tests that aren't covered by insurance.
I need financial help through this hard time. The doctor tells me the disease is life-long and that it will continue to get worse.
I am hoping to have the funds by 2017, but I will need to be able to use them as I go. The debt has crippled me as I still have enormous debt from college left over. I eat canned food mostly and live paycheck to paycheck. I have lost 90 pounds since the beginning of all of this. I live alone right now and have found life to be financially overwhelming. I now have to move to a smaller, cheaper apartment because I can no longer afford to buy food or gasoline and was recently in the hospital because of the stress that I've been under.
These funds will help me so much in life. If I can pay for my medical debt, then I can use the money I earn from my job to pay my school debt. One day, I may be able to go back to school, but I don't see it happening for at least ten years.
I would be very thankful for any contributions that anyone can provide. I'm at a loss for what to do next. I would be very thankful to have a little help with this. I hope that my health one day improves, but I need help to get there. I don't like to ask for help, but now I need it. Please, if you have the means, donate to my fund. I will be forever grateful. Any money that is left over will be donated to cancer research. Thank you for reading my story. And thank you for your contributions.
In 2013, I started to feel strange. I began to become more forgetful and had some strange headaches. While working, I felt like I was walking around in a fog. I was treated for depression in college, so I thought the fogginess was from the medication the doctors had me on. I quit the medications, but the fog remained.
Through the end of 2013 through 2014, I began to experience some scary symptoms of numbness in my hands and feet as well as pain in my skin and in my back. When I changed jobs, I began to hurt my back frequently and thought it was job related. I then began to feel dizzy, had constant vertigo, vision problems, hearing problems, and more headaches. My right arm and hand began to become weak and I could no longer lift much weight. I began to drop things frequently and trip over nothing, which concerned me greatly.
I saw my doctor, who did a neuro-exam. She immediately referred me to a neurologist who performed a series of MRI's and CT scans to search for a problem. Some weird stuff came up on the MRI's, but it wasn't the issue. The doctor didn't know what to do and sent me off to find me another neurologist.
The new neurologist was more thorough and found severe nerve death in my legs. We discovered that I have an auto-immune condition in which my body is killing its own tissues, in this case, my small nerve fibers, which are responsible for touch, heat, pain, and any sensation you can think of. My doctor tells me the condition will continue to progress, and it has. I now have lost a great amount of feeling in my feet and legs, though I am still able to walk and move around. I am clumsy and have to be careful not to hurt myself since I can't feel much. The condition has progressed to my hands. I often injure my right hand without even knowing it until I see the injury or someone else does.
Since then, I've begun to have numbness in my muscles and some difficulty moving my leg and arm as well as severe pain in my gut and chest.The doctor tells me I have to see more specialists to treat the symptoms while still trying to diagnose the exact disease. They believe it to be lupus, though there are symptoms not related to the disease.
I decided to start this fund by the recommendation of my family. They don't have the means to help me with the medical tests and treatments I have been given. Throughout 2014 and 2015, I have accrued massive medical debt just diagnosing the disease. I am now on very expensive medications to treat the pain and discomfort. I have severe fatigue and have had a lot of trouble functioning, even in small daily tasks of life.
I plan to use this money to pay for my current debt from the medical costs. This debt has risen even with insurance since many of the tests and medications are expensive even after insurance has paid its part. I met my deductible as well as my out of pocket maximums, but there are numerous tests that aren't covered by insurance.
I need financial help through this hard time. The doctor tells me the disease is life-long and that it will continue to get worse.
I am hoping to have the funds by 2017, but I will need to be able to use them as I go. The debt has crippled me as I still have enormous debt from college left over. I eat canned food mostly and live paycheck to paycheck. I have lost 90 pounds since the beginning of all of this. I live alone right now and have found life to be financially overwhelming. I now have to move to a smaller, cheaper apartment because I can no longer afford to buy food or gasoline and was recently in the hospital because of the stress that I've been under.
These funds will help me so much in life. If I can pay for my medical debt, then I can use the money I earn from my job to pay my school debt. One day, I may be able to go back to school, but I don't see it happening for at least ten years.
I would be very thankful for any contributions that anyone can provide. I'm at a loss for what to do next. I would be very thankful to have a little help with this. I hope that my health one day improves, but I need help to get there. I don't like to ask for help, but now I need it. Please, if you have the means, donate to my fund. I will be forever grateful. Any money that is left over will be donated to cancer research. Thank you for reading my story. And thank you for your contributions.
Organizer
Micah Fernandez
Organizer
Denver, CO
