Support Ben Stinnett's Health
Hello,
I never thought I’d be here today asking the online community, my family, and my friends for help. I’m usually so confident and put together that I never imagined the day that I couldn't support myself or my health. I'm honestly doing my best. I keep pushing myself further than my health allows me. I've been working at least 30-55 hours each week, though I'm probably only capable of 20 hours comfortably. Im looking into donating plasma and looking for a second job to try and make ends meet, perhaps catch up. But ultimately I'm looking to survive at the moment. I’m sad to say I’ve never felt weaker, physically or mentally.
About 2 months ago, my body decided that for whatever reason it needed to eat the sheath around my nerves. This essentially kills the nerves. I have Guillain Barre Syndrome. This condition started 3 years ago with lifelong neuropathy. I believe this was caused by a period of 3 months on a drug called Gabapentin. Over that time period I went from weighing 145 lbs to 270 lbs. My body simply didn't know what to do with all the changes that were happening to it. One of the results was that my body no longer could process B12 and D3 from foods so I have to supplement with high doses of these vitamins that are costly.
During this most recent episode, I was not able to drive or work for two months adding an additional financial strain. I am still trying to catch up from this break while trying to cover the additional expenses to manage my health.
Although I have insurance which covers a large portion of my care, there are alot of out of pocket expenses. Insurance is covering a monthly $18,000 IVIG treatment called Octagam. It's a 5 hour infusion I take once a month. In my first episode of this issue, 18 months of this treatment turned me from 8 months of being bedridden with severe neuropathy in my feet and hands to being able to walk up to 5 miles a day, though it was still difficult and stressful. After that treatment I thought I was going to be ok. Unfortunately in January of this year it hit again. This time however it didn't stop at just my feet and hands, Every nerve below my eyebrows got damaged to some extent. It's so hard to even move when the signals from my brain drop and are a small semblance of the original message.
I currently have to buy B12, D3, fish oil, and multiple expensive creams for nerve pain. There is also the out of pocket maximum on my insurance each year that I always meet. I have a few medical collections and all of my credit cards are full. Any support at all would go a long way in helping me maintain my health and physical needs. I had looked into applying for disability but I feel like that would limit my potential income and not give me a financial base to work from. Any donation will be put directly towards medically necessary costs. Thank you for your consideration! I will be grateful for any assistance.