43 Year Old Single Mom With Disabled Child Needs Help For Medical Needs
by Sharon
I currently live in a small one-bedroom apartment with my recently disabled daughter, who sleeps with all her equipment in the living room and she has no access to the bathroom so her baths are done in her bed. It's a tight fit but we manage. After my daughter's accident last year I no longer work and am relying on God and family to get me through. I myself have no health insurance. We are living day by day and though our basic needs are met we are living on a wire and at any moment it could break. My daughter's accident occurred in 2010. She was caught in a flash flood and washed a mile down an open culvert behind our apartment complex. She was found dead and brought back to life with a defibrillator ten minutes after entering the emergency room. She is labeled as a near drowning with severe brain injury due to lack of blood flow and oxygen to her brain and is now totally dependent, with trachea and feeding tube. Due to the insurance through my place of work and her father's insurance neither one would pay for a nurse's aid so I could go back to work. I have no family living within a 400-mile radius and no money to hire anyone with special training to watch her so I can go back to work. I am alone with no job and currently I am relying on food stamps and child support to pay my bills. I have applied and have been waiting since her accident for SSI, and respite. The van I am driving was donated to me by my daughter's father. It was all he could afford. It is rusted out on the bottom and causing all kinds of problems with radiator, air conditioning, and brakes. The van is about to fall apart and I need help in getting a new one. I have always paid my bills on time and my credit was decent. Right now it is bad because of everything that has happened this past year and I am facing a court hearing in August due to a repossession. I now owe $4000 on the car I had prior to the accident. I could not afford to make the payment so I thought I was doing the right thing by sending it back. I applied for SSI right after the accident but I did not qualify because my name was joint on a timeshare that was through my marriage and my ex-husband would not take it over. I could not afford that payment so my credit is ruined as well. He finally removed me from that contract and now I think SSI should go through, but hasn't yet. I am waiting to hear a reply. On occasion my mother gives me $100 for toiletries. My daughter receives child support of $686 a month because her dad doubled his payment to her. I earn about $25 a month on average with an online store that sells products I design. That totals to $811 a month, which pays for rent ($505), electric ($125), water ($25), phone ($45), gas for my van and toiletries. There's no room for extras. Occasionally it isn't enough and I have to put a bill on my credit card. Once in a while, I believe an act of God, once in a blue moon someone autonomous would send me a few dollars or a gift card to Walmart, which helps. I am looking for a grant that will help me to get a new wheelchair van that is reliable OR fix the one I have so it will be safe to drive so I can get to my daughter to her appointments without tossing her around in the back or breaking down. I am also looking for help to get my daughter what she needs that Medicaid will not pay for. She needs to go to a hyperbolic chamber in Atlanta Georgia or one in Canada (I opt for Atlanta, GA it is closer) to wake up parts of her brain that are still sleeping, then to a boot camp for physical and occupational therapy in Orlando Florida. Her neurologist says time is of the essence and she will benefit from these treatments. I am not sure of how much it will cost for the physical therapy in Orlando, but the hyperbolic chamber in Atlanta Georgia will be about $15,000 for fifteen sessions, which is what her doctor recommends. I know I am no more deserving than any other in my same situation but I pray someone out there will see our needs and help in any way they can. I will be ever grateful. Thank you.
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