Susi Needs Urgent Help After Assault&Car Accident

Who this will help

Hi, I'm Susi. I am personally asking for help from all those earth angels out there. If you can in any way possible help get me through a very rough patch, I would be forever grateful. The most pressing issue I am having, where I am having to ask for donations, is getting another vehicle after a horrific car accident I had in September, rendering the vehicle I had totaled. Previous to that, I was brutally assaulted at work. I need a vehicle to see my children, go to my specialists (one hour and forty minutes one way for one, one hour and 14 minutes for the other appointment that are on different days most of the time), and other varying appointments listed in detail below. I have until December 12th, 2023 to figure it all out. The rental car establishment that I have been going through only informed me on December 4th, 2023 when I went to renew the car rental (like I have very other week), told me I would be charged premium rates. Which I absolutely cannot afford.

I should not have walked away from that accident. I am thankful and blessed to be able to be here. I am always "paying it forward". This would be no exception. I'm truly in-need of a Christmas miracle here.

Would you please be one of 125 people who could donate just $20 to fulfill this need and wish? Anything you can manage would help, even $5. I am desperately in need of a vehicle. One person may not think they can make a difference, but even if 500 people donated $5, this need would be fulfilled. Just sharing the link and my story to your friends, family, and any social media you may have would be enough. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Please read further, I know there is a lot of information. It illustrates just a fraction of what I have been going through for the past six months. Most of the information below is only what I've had to deal with within the last few weeks!

Why I'm fundraising

Since June 8th, 2023 my life has been turned upside down. I was brutally, physically assaulted by a disadvantaged youth at my place of employment. The most severe of my injuries were to my nose, neck, and back. I was receiving enough funds through Workers Compensation to pay my bills, until one of the drs I was sent to through workers compensation, had determined I am 50% disabled, with many restrictions and limitations. My orthopedic Dr, whom I have been seeing for my neck and back, argues I am 100% disabled. I'm stuck in limbo until my case is pleaded, resulting in a significant decrease in workers compensation.

Workers Compensation even further decreased two of my payments due to receiving the letter from their workers compensation Dr later in the month, with his determination at 50% at the date of my appointment. They essentially made me repay the difference. It would have made more sense for them to have at least began docking my payments from the date they received the letter from the Dr. This was all without warning. I did not have time to prepare for the differences in workers compensation.

Workers Compensation has been a nightmare to work with. They have declined coverage of my back at one point. Then agreed to cover my back, but not my neck. Then agreed to both, yet I still have not completed my last round of PT (physical therapy); recommended by both comps Dr and my ortho Dr, even though I have called PT, my orthopedics Dr and comp back and forth multiple times to remedy what is going on. Workers Compensation even tried to deny any and all coverage after my accident, even though I went to the ER due to breathing problems. I did disclose my assault injuries, as I was having back pains, I kept telling the paramedics and ER Drs it was due to my asthma and the air bag dust when they deployed. As well as getting the wind knocked out of me from the seatbelt. A CT scan was performed, indicating no damage or issues. My pain and injuries have not been worse since the accident. Oddly, my back felt better momentarily, then went right back to how it felt prior to the accident. I discussed this with one of my PT workers, who told me this sort of thing does happen, it's a weird phenomenon. Sometimes things can realign or alleviate pain, even permanently. That has not been the case for me.

Due to my restrictions, my current place of employment (where I was assaulted) refuses to allow me to go back to work, and will not accommodate my restrictions in any way.

Between all of that, I was in a horrific car accident in September. The car flipped at least one and a half times and was deemed totaled. Since the car accident, I've had to pay for a weekly car rental to make it to my appointments for my neck and back (164 miles round trip), each time I need to be seen and re-evaluated, I need to get to physical therapy, mental health appointments, workers compensation dr appointments, compensation lawyer appointments, the library (making and printing out my resume, scanning documents for appointments, trying to start a business etc), as well as driving to other places for help such as social services, COI, Chautauqua Works, and more. My back injury makes it difficult to walk far distances. It's also hard to sit for long periods of time. Having my own vehicle has been essential. Carts and Uber can only help so much. Some days I have appointments throughout the entire day. Either service could not accommodate me. The only other person who could help me works nights and has to sleep during the day. I have too many appointments to constantly ask for help to and from my Dr appointments that take three hours just to drive there and back.

For extra fun, on Thanksgiving my right eye was in a lot of pain. The next day I went to WellNow and received antibiotics. The day after that, my eye was nearly swollen shut. I treated it the best I knew how to and continued my antibiotics, hoping they just needed time to kick in. A few days after that, I decided to go to the ER. The ER did an orbital CT scan and were very alarmed. An antibiotic IV drip and a pain reliever were administered, with the plan that in the morning I'd call the local ENT they recommended and/or go to a bigger city hospital where they'd have both an Ophthalmologists (eye specialist) and ENT (ear, nose, and throat specialist). I did call the local ENT the ER recommended. They weren't equipped to handle what they saw on my orbital CT scan.

I had also reached out to an ENT Dr who had performed a sinus and orbital surgery on me in the past. I had a cyst that broke my orbital bone and had an infection throughout my sinuses in the entire right side of my face. A "hole" was made in my face (under the skin) due to not having one, to ensure proper drainage of normal nasal drainage and more so for when there is an infection.

My ENT from the past did return my call and immediately saw me, first sending me to an eye Dr to ensure my eye was not damaged, as I have a spot in my peripheral vision. These two appointments luckily were back to back, on the same day, and happened to be on the day I was already heading out in that direction to see my orthopedics Dr for my neck and back. I needed to go out to my orthopedics Dr to go over the MRI's I had earlier in the week. I needed to get the MRI's done at a place 129 miles round trip, an hour and fourteen minutes just one way, on a completely different day. Hundreds and hundreds of miles and countless hours.

The appointment with my orthopedic Dr to go over my neck and back MRI's last week, resulted in the confirmation that I do have extensive damage in my back and issues with my neck. Since June, it was determined I had whiplash from my assault, which can take a year to heal. The plan now is to send me to another specialist (in the same building as my ortho Dr, still a three hour drive alone) to get injections in my back. The injection route isn't looking promising due the type of pain and injury I have, as the injections are less likely to help. Surgery is most likely on the table, in the very near future for my back. One of the types of surgeries discussed is a fusion. Over time that surgery will result in more back issues and/or surgery. Basically, I am looking at a back injury for the rest of my life.

On top of all of that, I am still dealing with my eye and sinus issue, where there is also a high probability that I need surgery. My ENT is 129 miles round trip. Where I have to go for monitoring and more evaluating for my eye and sinus condition.

The impact of your support

It is imperative I have my own vehicle. Due to needing to pay on the car rental, it has been the major reason I am struggling financially. My insurance was able to cover about a week of the rental in September. Every week since, it has fallen on me to cover the rental agreement amount. Today December 6th, 2023 I went to renew the rental like every other week and they told me they had extended the insurance premium as far as they could. I believe it will go up to $100/DAY! Which was news and a total shock to me. I assumed the outrageous amount I had been paying all this time was the payment from here on out until I could figure out how to get another vehicle.

I still owe money on the totaled vehicle. I hadn't had it long prior to the accident. I was unaware of this until well after the accident, when the insurance company was trying to figure out if it was totaled and how much of a payout there would be etc, resulting in other payments not being made on it.

With my compensation payments significantly decreased, and paying on the rental to ensure I could see my kids and get to my appointments, I have not been able to make any further payments on the totaled car's remaining balance, even after the waivers and majority of it being paid off. It has gotten so bad that I had to cancel my health insurance. I then spent five hours (3 hours last Friday, 2 hours this past Monday) on the phone seeing if I qualified for medicaid. Even after I had, and waiting the 24 hrs for the system to have me added, my ENTs office told me I still wasn't listed in the system?

I don't want or need anything fancy or remotely new. I am not using the donations to put down as a downpayment for something I will have to make payments on. I am using the majority of the $2,500 in donations to purchase anything that I won't have to sink a bunch of money into, but in decent condition. Whatever remains, will go towards paying off the rest of my totaled vehicles balance. This is the bare minimum I would need, yet would exponentially enhance my life and take away a huge burden and stressor.

Just 125 people, who can spare $20 could substantially change my life!

I have been looking for work throughout the last few months. I wasn't sure if I should or could due to all my appointments and my workers compensation claim. I truly thought my current employer would accommodate me. My workers compensation lawyers are working on disability (which can take two years), as well as ensuring workers compensation covers all my medical expenses. I am also working with a local agency to get back into school. I apply for various jobs daily. I've only had a handful of interviews throughout my job search, four of them have been this week. I've applied to at least a hundred (or more) over the last months.

Again, just sharing the link and my story to your friends, family, and any social media you have would be enough. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.