Help Aaron pay for medical bills & service dog.

   My name is Aaron Nagori & my service dog Osita and I would like to thank you for taking the time to care about others in need. I’m physically disabled & I work with a service dog. 

   I'm asking for help to cover health insurance, medication, transportation to and from doctors visits & my service dogs expenses/lodging. I've been experiencing heart/chest pain issues for several months now which has me scared. I have tingling sensations & the occasional pins an needles feeling in my chest & arms which has had me worried about a heart attack. I have been increasingly experiencing either anxiety attacks due to the stress or possible heart issues(light headedness & out of breath) but am afraid to rack up medical bills I can't pay. I have been heart healthy all my life but over the last couple of years that's changed after I contracted COVID multiple times in one year. I have health insurance/Obamacare to help me, but it doesn't cover enough. I've filed an application for disability but was denied & was advised to hire a lawyer to assist, I can't afford an attorney. I applied for SSI but don't have an appointment for almost 2 more months(as of May 1st 2024). I finally decided to create this GoFundMe after having chest pains & light headedness again which ended with me collapsing in public. I had to go to emergency for the first time by ambulance, it cost me over 2k after the emergency room bill was added. I've been pushed into poverty by these bills. I can't afford to buy food or pay my bills anymore. I thought this would just pass & it was anxiety from losing my home during the pandemic, it's been 2 yrs an the symptoms got worse. I need to address this now before it cost me more than my dignity. 

My plan is to purchase a better health insurance plan to cover me for the next 12-18 months so that I can address this issue immediately. I've had multiple days in the last month(Feb/March 2024) experiencing palpitations and tingling accompanied by lightheadedness and shortness of breath. I've been hospitalized multiple times as well with no answers, just referalls. I need to be able to board my service dog when it's not prudent to bring her to the appointments with me. I also plan to pay for any meds & change of diet requirements that may come of this situation. I have work but there is no health insurance and I can't afford health insurance on my own. I am not overweight nor do I smoke cigarettes so this heart scare has me concerned about heart disease which runs in my family on my Mothers side along with diabetes. I am trying to stay positive.

   Maybe a little background on what led to me requiring the need of a service dog. I was working overseas (non-mil) for several years & after I spent several months volunteering as a first responder in a disaster zone. The how and why I have PTSD are due to my experience working as a first responder & also being arrested all while in Nicaragua. I experienced a natural disaster while on vacation, literally my last night on the affected island...then disaster found me again.

On the night of October 8, 2014 the people of Ometepe Island, Nicaragua experienced record breaking rainfall resulting in multiple massive landslides. In the span of a few hours thousands of people were left homeless or jobless and without clean water or electricity. The full scope of the damage would not be realized for several days as most of the affected areas were not accessible by normal transportation. To complicate matters emergency services were limited because of a lack of adequate first response personnel on the secluded island. Traveling as a tourist on Ometepe as the disaster struck October 8th. I was packed and ready to leave the morning after the landslides, but ended up staying to volunteer with others to assist in first response. I have years of experience riding motorcycles and dirtbikes which I knew would prove valuable with roads covered by landslides. I would like to tell you the government was there alongside us helping hand out clean water, distributing food or issuing medication to those who were sick or in need... Unfortunately that wasn't the case, the government brought food, and some bedding to "Central Checkpoints" and then expected battered and hungry refugees to walk as much as 5 kilometers to collect the supplies. This was the catalyst that had me certain I could help.

I started organizing a highly skilled first response team(anyone who could ride a dirt bike). I alongside some of the bravest volunteers I have ever met would spend the next 3 weeks assisting refugees. We began by riding every landslide and buried road on the island to get an accurate count of those in need. After seeing that there were huge needs for potable water, anti-diaherea medicine, antibiotics, insulin, and painkillers we spoke with the hospitals who couldn't provide a solution fast enough(72-96Hrs). We ended up purchasing medicine, water, and food with our own funds and delivering them on the backs of our trusty(rusty) motorcycles. We witnessed schools converted into refugee camps, some as big as 160 persons largely made up of children under the age of 10. Things were made worse as it was the rainy season & nothing went anywhere without a price to pay...typically me busted up or the motorcycle. I stayed until a a knee injury forced me to return to Miami for a doctor. I would return tho, right after Christmas to for the rebuilding process as I donated almost 7 more months of my time to helping the community.

My Nicaraguan adventure would come to a screeching halt in April of 2015 tho as I was arrested for refusing to pay a bribe to two police officers in the capital city of Managua while attending to a broken hand that required surgery. I would spend the next two & a half months incarcerated in different facilities with no phone calls allowed to the US Embassy during normal business hours. They would allow me to call the Embassy multiple times a week but always after 2pm local when the Embassy was already closed. I eventually got my hands on a contraband cellphone that had data and used Facebook to reach out with a proof of life(photo) begging for people to contact the State Department....it worked. I was released and returned home at the end of June 2015. I'm lucky to be alive and even luckier to have gotten the service doge I did, Osita is going on 6 yrs old an she is my rock. I don't want to die from a heart attack an leave her that way if I can prevent it, I have nightmares about that.

Thank you for all who took the time to read this and if your curious about Nicaragua I have lots of photos which I'll post...I even have the photo that got me my freedom. I will also post a link to the Facebook page we used while helping the community. Thank you all who made it this far & took the time to care. I'm grateful for all of the well wishes and help.

Ometepe Info https://www.facebook.com/HelpUrso/about_details

Ometepe Video https://www.facebook.com/HelpUrso/videos/352202354986581

Ometepe Video https://www.facebook.com/HelpUrso/videos/352200634986753