Medical & Living Expenses

Hello everyone. This is Michael.

This is something I never considered doing, and never wanted to do either, even when I had lost my job, and when quite literally Kate was at death's door, but as it stands right now - we're still financially hurting and we're still in a debt pit.

For those who know us - on Twitter or otherwise, then you know that since January of 2020 my wife, Katlyn, has been dealing with a sudden and formerly acute, now chronic, battle with Kidney Failure. We've managed to do all we can with it, for it, against it - to slow it down. Traveling all around the country to doctors, and incurring debts and costs from that, as well as just... all the immuno-suppressants used to try and save her kidneys. Kate was diagnosed, after seeing six different doctors, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota - with GIN(Granulomatous Interstitial Nephritis), a relatively rare form of kidney disease, but by the time it was detected it was already too late and her kidneys were damaged beyond all repair. This was a diagnosis in 2021. In November of 2022 - her kidneys failed after two years of trying to stave it all off. This was two years of 60mg of Prednisone, Cellcept, and Mycophenolic Acid - every heavy-hitting immunosuppressant that ended up destroying my wife's hips, causing necrosis and necessitating a double hip replacement, in addition to her dealing with her dying kidneys. When they failed, it happened quickly and was probably the most miserable my wife has ever had the pleasure of being in her life. Required a full month in the Hospital, not counting the Month she spent in the hospital in 2023 for her double hip replacement. As of now, since November of 2022, she is on dialysis and I am her at-home nurse, trained to do her dialysis and take care of her in the absence of actual care nurses and DaVita. I also at the same time work a full-time job, and as you can imagine - between organ failure, medication and everything we have racked up debt.

Even now, every few weeks I get a new bill in the mail that has a figure or a number totaling $500,000 or more, detailing what is and isn't covered. I'm not asking for that because it's ridiculous and we're constantly requesting itemizations to get rid of the insanity that is hospital bills. But what I am asking for is what would cover the credit card debt that we have ended up finding ourselves in. At the beginning of the year, I had taken on a new job with the promise of higher pay, better opportunity, growth, etc. Four months into the job I, and everyone else working there was laid off. The job was everything we needed to get ahead and right when it was just starting to get into its groove - it was gone. Being without any full-time work for a few months ended up with me having to rely on using credit just to keep us afloat, paying for her appointments and anything we needed. And boy was that not a great time.

Making this is a hit to my pride. It's not enjoyable. It's not anything I ever wanted to do, but we are at the point where we do need help.

So, if you can help - I and my wife appreciate it. We appreciate it so very much.

Though you may not get a picture of us or anything - I hope you're able to enjoy the picture of the mountain I used instead.