help me get back on my feet. ❤️

hi there, I'm Travell. most folks call me Trav. I'm a 36 year old Bay Area native with a love for food (both cooking and eating), my family, my friends and life in general. I recently just had my world turn upside down and I could really use your help.

On March 10, 2023, I suffered a seizure and a concussion, resulting in a nine day hospital stay, which then resulted in a hospital bill totaling $112,934.31. After some adjustments, the final amount total is now $67,760.59. Quite astronomical of a bill to say the least.

My body isn't producing enough red blood cells, so I had to have two blood transfusions in the hospital and a lump on my left lung was also detected through X-Rays. Luckily, it wasn't cancerous. There's also "white matter" showing up in scans of my brain, which is slight cause for concern as I've noticed my motor skills have been affected and my mood swings can be really heavy, which can also be linked to the severe depression i was diagnosed with. Lastly, there's scarring on my liver, which is also very alarming. 

All of this happened after my mom suffered a major stroke and I took three weeks (unpaid) off of an already slow time at work to take care of some of her needs on the back end, as well as to gain some clarity, as dealing with a dying parent doesn't do much for headspace. Coupled with my own extended absence (I needed time to recover once I was released, before I went back to work), my funds just depleted. When I got back to work, it was still slow. I eventually lost my job in late May and have been looking steadily since and it's been hard.

I created this GFM because I obviously need financial help. Rent is coming up, bills are due and I'm tapping into resources that are coming up short. I didn't think I'd ever be at this point, but here I am. As I mentioned earlier I was diagnosed with severe depression and I'm definitely feeling it now. 

With your help, I will be able to cover life essential expenses. Rent, obviously. Keeping food in the fridge. Transportation to work (when I land a job) and all these specialists I have to see. I would truly be grateful for your help. Every bit counts and is appreciated.

-T

*update 7/1/13*

first and foremost, thank you for reaching out, spreading the word and contributing to me in my time of need. I can't explain how grateful I am for y'all...it's just very humbling and flooring to me. I never thought I'd be in a place where life would throw cinder blocks at me instead of lemons, but here we are. let me catch you up to speed as to what's going on currently...

**your GFM (GoFundMe) contributions.**

Again, THANK YOU! As I've mentioned to a few of you, starting this GFM was a last battle cry for help, as I'm so used to being self sufficient and taking care of things on my own, but I kept running short recently and realized I needed help on a larger scale. along with myself beingsick and also caring for a parent who is dying, it's all just been a lot.

as I mentioned in the bio of my GFM, I'm asking for help with expenses while I'm currently down. with all of your generosity (and extended!), I was able to clear my past due rents that I wasn't able to pay, as well as clear July without a late fee. I attached screenshots.

in addition to rent, I uploaded money to my Clipper card so I can navigate around to appointments, interviews, errands and the like. yesterday, I went to my Pulmonary exam and did some blood work at Highland Hospital.

I set aside some funds to look for outpatient therapy since I've not been so great mentally these days and I've gotta find the resources to tune me up.

Bobby bought me lunch the other day. A photo of that chaos will follow as well. Did some minor grocery shopping for myself and mom as well.

**The Road to Recovery**

Physically, I *feel* okay, but apparently, I'm a ticking time bomb of sort. My pulmonary exam yesterday was the start of a battery of tests and exams that I will have to go through to figure out wtf is wrong with me. I'm REALLY tired of having all of my blood taken from me and needles in my arm. I might have a procedure soon that requires me to go under the knife. not necessarily thrilled about that.

Mentally, it's been challenging and complex, which might be the bigger demon. I'm seeking help and a new therapist so there's that.

I'm getting a little worn out from typing all of this and thinking. I still have a shit ton of thank you notes to send out from everyone who has contributed to my GFM so far, but I'm gonna nap first.

❤️ u,

thank u,

-T