They cut off Nick’s disability checks - pls help

Hi, my name is Nicole. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my fiancé’s story. It’s very hard to ask for help, but we need to.  

Yesterday, Nick learned he lost his SSDI payments when he didn’t receive his monthly check. We are devastated, as Nick fought so hard and deserves these benefits more than anyone I know. He is helping me raise two amazing children together. He relies upon his SSDI to help support our family and cover bills. 

Although Nick filed an appeal, we don’t have money for a lawyer or money to cover the bills including Nick’s car payment that aren’t going away. Things we know will spiral downhill fast. We are asking for help to get Nick through the next couple of months while he waits on the appeal process to give him a reply.

Nick’s story:

Nick suffered a brain aneurysm in 2007 and it took 8 neurosurgeons to save him.  He’s a solid and good man, and he’s been through so much.  I couldn’t be prouder of him for what he has overcome. He’s a true survivor and my hero.

Following the surgery, Nick was in an induced coma and on life support for about a month.  Prior to all of this, Nick had worked as a direct support professional helping people with disabilities and had also been a case manager helping people with substance abuse issues. He was unable to do that job anymore after the aneurysm.  

Following his hospital stay, with his parent’s help, he applied for SSDI as he was unable to gainfully work. He couldn’t walk, had difficulty moving around, had to relearn cognitive skills such as reading and writing. His life changed overnight. He was only 27 years old.  The irony is the person who had spent years working to help others with disabilities now was disabled himself.  Nick is living proof it can happen to any one of us.

It took Nick approximately 2.5 years to obtain SSDI. After trying on his own unsuccessfully, he was finally successful with the help of an attorney.

Fast forward to today. Nick is 43 and still deemed 100% totally and permanently disabled by his doctors. Despite this, he still wanted to help others with disabilities and also couldn’t live off of SSDI alone. SSA allows disabled people to do a small amount of work and still receive their disability benefits. Nick thought he was doing everything he needed to according to the SSA in order to not lose his SSDI. Today, we learned that SSDI was stopping his disability payments.  We don’t know why, and Nick has filed an appeal. 

We are asking for help to cover bills why Nick waits on the appeal process. 

If you are able to help us however small, we promise to pay it forward. 

Thank you from our hearts, 

Nicole and Nick