Help Matt Heal and Play Music Again

My name is Matt and I am a teacher, writer and musician.

Three weeks ago I was in a very traumatic car accident wherein someone crashed into me after they didn’t slow down at a yellow light.

Now, I am left with a broken finger, severe PTSD symptoms, and most importantly…I may not be able to have a surgery that I need enable to fully heal.

I'm trying this as a last ditch effort to help my family and I get through this with our head above water. It's to pay for surgery, supplement my ability to take leave from work, and foot the bill for general living cots while I heal up.

My hands are part of my daily life in such a wide array of avenues. I’m a musician, a writer, and I have many animals to take care of. And this ordeal has left me in shambles, both physically and emotionally.

Brass tacks to illustrate that emotional gravity of the situation...my grandfather asked me about a month ago if I would play a song and sing at his funeral on guitar when the time comes....now his wishes may not come true because my hand is wrecked and I may never play music properly again. Being a musician was the thing I had when there was nothing and no one else on planet earth on my side.

Here is a poem I wrote at 5:30 a.m. this morning that illustrates my feelings:

Life by the Drop

for Sterling

My Navy man grandaddy

Asked me this past spring

If I’d bring a guitar to his funeral.

He told me nothing

Would make him happier than if

I’d show up and sing Willie Nelson’s

Version of, “Amazing Grace”,

At the service with a cowboy hat on

When it’s his time

To ramble on up north—

The car crash was two weeks later

And I crushed my left arm—

The doctor tells me I need pins

In the middle finger

Of my fretting hand—

When I asked him if I’d ever

Play again, his lips said maybe.

But his eyes said no—God snaps

His fingers in time and that thrill done gone.

I’d rather go blind, boy.

Thanks for reading and godspeed.

best,

-Matt