Help us start over

After a moderate traumatic brain injury in 2006, our lives changed forever.  Unable to continue in my career as author / small business owner, I took to homesteading.  Gradually we got the hang of it, started to specialize in hot and super hot peppers.  Right when I thought things were coming together, my feet started falling apart.

Thus far, I have lost both big toes and the second toe on the left foot in three separate operations.  Four additional operations removed much of the bone behind those toes and down into the foot.  I have been septic more times than I remember and in full blown septic shock 3 times.  All in the past three or so years.  All along, i kept pushing forward, expanding our homestead, and providing the best product and service that I could.  That might be coming to an end in 2019.

2018 was a horrific season.  It seemed the more I worked, the more time I spent in the hospital.  We fell behind on our home equity loan and taxes.  At one point, I was back in the field working the day after returning from an amputation.  At another point, a bone broke threw the amputation site requiring more surgery.  The medical expenses have been horrible.  The pain has been intolerable, but all along i have kept working the farm.  Today, I was cleaning my foot and a section of bone literally fell out of the wound.  Sounds like a story doesn't it?  It has become very clear that we will not be looking forward to a good harvest this year.  It has become very clear I cant do this on my own.

Citizen's Union Bank doesn't much care that I have literally worked my feet off trying to stay ahead of the mortgage.  In fact, they refused to talk to me about refinancing the lien on our homestead.  Without so much as a breach letter, they had the local deputies serve me with foreclosure paperwork early one morning.  I was still on IV antibiotics, bed ridden, and under the supervision of home care nursing when I was served.  The result of the most previous surgery.  They demanded $30,000.00 to stop the foreclosure.  Now they have added over $7,000.00 in legal fees.

Do I believe I can raise $37,000.00 via this GoFundMe effort?  Not really.  We are common folk and like attracts like.  Most of our friends and family are common folk to.  But I have to try.  If Citizen's Union Bank does auction off our homestead, any money raised will be used for medical expenses and to help us restart elsewhere.