Help honeycrisp survive while she waits for SSDI!

You may know honeycrisp from The Exiles where she is our Membership Director. Or maybe you know here from her time in DMV. Or maybe you know her from the work she has done with the Dirty Minds of Yuma. Or maybe you were there when she won first place in a Queen’s Cup race. However, you know her, I’m sure you’ve been treated to one of her warm smiles and benefited from her utmost dedication to the community. honeycrisp is someone who gives so much to the people around her. And now she needs our help.

When she was 15, honeycrisp rolled her ankle while dancing with her high school dance team in a Christmas parade. Not wanting to let her team down, she finished the parade without telling anyone. Once her coach found out, honeycrisp was bundled off to the local foot specialist, but unfortunately the damage was done. What had started off as a relatively minor injury progressed and became Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).

Due to the massive amount of pain she was in, honeycrisp was homebound for her junior year of high school. With the help of an electric wheelchair and nerve blocks, she was then able to return to high school for her senior year. During college, she had surgery to install a spinal cord stimulator to help control her pain. The surgery was successful enough so that the spinal cord stimulator was able to lower honeycrisp’s ongoing pain levels from a ten to a seven. This reduction in pain was enough for honeycrisp to no longer need a wheelchair for support. Still, honeycrisp must now have regular surgeries for the upkeep of the spinal cord stimulator.

Even with all this, honeycrisp was able to graduate from college in under four years and start a career in IT. And even with surgery after surgery, constant pain from the waist down, flairs of pain above the waist, migraines, insomnia, muscle spasms, tenderness to touch, tenderness to vibration, broken bones, ovarian cysts, gallstones, and fibromyalgia, honeycrisp went on to earn her Master’s in Information Systems and advance in a career that she was proud of.

In August and September of last year, honeycrisp underwent an extensive eighteen-day hospitalization due to complications arising from gallbladder removal surgery. During this period, she endured numerous IV access procedures and, eventually, the insertion of a PICC line. After being discharged and slowly beginning to normalize, she began experiencing a significant flare-up of discomfort in her right arm, her dominant side, extending from her neck down to her fingers.

Despite enduring these challenges for more than two decades, honeycrisp's pain, coupled with the demands of managing medications and other side effects of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), ultimately led to the loss of her job in February.

In April, honeycrisp was confronted with another health setback when she developed a mastoid infection, necessitating the administration of potent IV antibiotics and a four-day hospitalization. Sadly, this ordeal resulted in a 10% hearing loss in her right ear, which has subsequently impacted her speech. She has since been able to partially mitigate this hearing loss through the use of a hearing aid.

honeycrisp applied for food stamps and SSDI in February and May respectively, but the SSDI process can take over two years before an applicant sees any money. And unfortunately, honeycrisp needs help paying her bills now. With food, housing, and utilities, honeycrisp’s monthly expenses come out to about $1,000 a month. I’m trying to raise $12,000 so honeycrisp does not have to worry about paying her bills for the next year. Any extra funds raised will be put towards future living expenses.

Please join me in helping give back to a member of our community who has given us so much.