Help us catch a break

[Image description: A banner with the text "Could ya cut me a freakin' break?" overlaid on several images. Two are of a small grey cat, and one is of Ren in the hospital, wearing a gown and sunglasses and grinning wryly at the camera. Scattered around the banner is clipart of the COVID-19 virus, a hospital building, a bed, and a bill. /End ID.]

My name is Ren, and I have fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, and hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that makes my connective tissue fragile and lax, causing frequent (and increasingly weird) injuries. I found out in the past few months that the issue that's been mostly responsible for keeping me bedbound for well over a year is almost certainly a spinal fluid leak - shockingly common in hEDS - that's going to take a lot of testing to find and fix. I spent seven days in the hospital this February trying to find this answer, and I finally have a neurologist who's willing to treat me, but in the meantime, daily living and work are both difficult. This is even more true after an ME/CFS crash after a car accident last October, from which I'm still recovering.

I can't do this alone, and I don't. As a family, me, M, and Jay are keeping each other afloat, but we're all chronically ill and disabled.

M can work, but she lost her job at Starbucks recently. We're also concerned that she may be struggling with Long Covid after a bout in 2022, leaving her with symptoms like brain fog and fatigue. Looking for a new job that will fit her new limitations is a full-time job in itself: the working world can be an unfriendly place to the chronically ill.

Jay is able to take care of my everyday needs, but there's currently no way to get him paid for the care work he does, and I need such frequent attention that we've yet to find a job that would allow him to do both. That leaves us without a crucial opportunity for income.

These problems are complicated and systemic, and no amount of money we could raise over GoFundMe could solve them all. But if you can spare a few dollars, it'll go a long way in giving us some much-needed relief.

Here's the breakdown of the $4,000 we're seeking:

Our hope with this fundraiser is just to get to a slightly less stressful place. We all have disabilities and illnesses exacerbated by stress (not that chronic stress is good for anyone), and addressing these immediate problems will cut down on that stress just enough to help us keep treading water.

With much love and warmest thanks,

Ren/Crow, M, Jay, and Krem

P.S. -- Since some people have asked, my sickbed wishlist is still active!