The Alexander Family Fund

I never imagined I would be asking strangers (and friends) for help. People have told me for years, I should have a go fund me page. I’ve never had the courage to ask for help. But here I am, after much encouragement. So here is my story:
I’m 47, married with 3 kids. My twins (Sam and Nate) will be 16 on August 9 2016. And my youngest (Andrew) is 14. On a beautiful Sunday morning in October of 2007, my wife, Karan took my son Andrew and daughter Samantha for a walk around our neighborhood. That was the last time Karan was to enjoy a beautiful to walk. An 18 year old neighbor was late for work, and struck my wife and kids with her car whilst texting. Andrew was the least injured, he was just knocked down. Samantha suffered a broken femur, however Karan after bouncing off her windshield, suffered a spinal chord injury. To be precise, she has a partial fracture of her cervical 1, 2&3 vertebrae. She is now bound to a power wheelchair, with partial use of her hand/arms. Don’t get me wrong she is far better than the doctors ever thought she would be, she is a fighter and never gives up. Their prognoses for her was very grim at the time of her accident.
When this happened she was 5 week away from graduating college with a registered nurses degree. She spent 2 months at our local hospital, and 9 months at a rehab facility. After returning home Karan was right back where she left it all, back in school only this time in a wheelchair. She made up her last semester and graduated as a registered nurse. Immediately after graduating, the local hospital where Karan did her clinical had a surprise for her. They had their spokesperson interview Karan on their radio show. At the end, he announced the hospital was offering her the job she was doing as a student. What a great day! Well, sadly it was just a feel good story for the hospital. They never made good on that offer. Karan never gave up, trying to find a nursing job she can do from her wheelchair. After a couple more promises from other employers, that never came through Karan finally landed a job. She had the help of our local ARC office. They found her a position as an mds coordinator at a nursing home. The state even paid for Karan’s MDS training and certification. Things were looking up for us all, we finally had 2 incomes. This nursing home too made a big deal of Karan’s employment, they agreed to give her 20 hours per week. When all was said and done it turned out to be 16 hours, but that was fine. ARC, who assisted in finding Karan the job also paid half of her salary for the first 3 months of her employment. Well wouldn't you know it, after 3 months Karan hours were cut to only 8 hours per week, this turned out to be yet another feel good story. They kept her on for another 9 months, when her 1 year anniversary arrived they gave her a stellar yearly review, and told her they were eliminating her position at the nursing home a position they created for her, to get her in.
On top of this Karan is not eligible for disability, the state looks at her work credits for the 5 years before the accident as she hardly worked due to being a stay at home mom and a nursing student. At the time we had my income and her father’s pension, that pension ended in 2009. She does however receive a small amount of SSI from the state and we are grateful for that. We've gotten by this long and up until May 2016, I've been in full time employment, at this time I am working part time, and looking on a daily basis for a full time job. Karan is also busy faxing her resume to any one and every one.
We have managed to keep our heads up but recently we have been overwhelmed financially. Along with the constant small bills that we have fallen behind on our car insurance is also due for renewal, requiring $675 that we simply don't have. We also have to pay the DMV $500 x2 for each of us. I was in an accident in 2010 where I had no insurance. Last year the dmv restricted our license for 1 year, in order to get the back in good standing, we have to pay them. Punishment for have a laps in insurance and having an accident, I should have known better. We are also having an issue paying our electric /gas bill, but I think the state is going to come through and help us with that (after 3 days of craziness getting them the paperwork they needed) Karan’s minivan is having issues with the wheelchair ramp, we are managing to manually deploy it, but that too needs to be addressed.

In spite of all that has gone wrong for us, we have had so many blessings. We have seen the kindness of people we don't know, we saw the love and concern from our entire neighborhood. For the first 6 months after Karan’s accident I don't think I had to cook dinner once, people are wonderful. We are also very lucky to have a mortgage holder that has a heart of gold. We have been in foreclosure for a few years now, they know and empathize with our situation. They understand we planned on 2 incomes to support this family and they have been very good to us since day one. Not to mention very patient, hoping that Karan gets a stable job, and then they can re structure our mortgage.

I want to thank you for taking the time to read our story. I’m sure I will be updating this often, and I’m sure I left a lot out, due to forgetfulness.

Thank you and God Bless,

Bill

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