54 Year Old Cancer Disabled Man Seeks Grant Money For A Second Chance

by Douglas Pennington
(Bluefield, WV, USA)

I am a 54-year-old U.S. citizen with 3 different types of cancer. I have bone cancer in my hips, lymph node cancer in my neck, and basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer) on my shoulders and back.

Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I had been working for a construction company and saving my money to start my own company.

When I felt like I could make a go of it on my own, I took all the resources that I had on hand and purchased every tool I thought I would need to get started out right.

I found a house that was located close to where I had intended to open my business, worked out a lease purchase arrangement with the homeowners and began to look forward to many years of being a self-sufficient, hard working business owner and valuable member of my community.

After noticing some severe pain in my right hip, I made an appointment with my doctor, who sent me for X-rays and bone scans. When the results came back, they were positive for cancer.

After months of radiation treatments, the next step was chemotherapy. Meanwhile, all the money I had was dwindling away on medication, doctor visits, and household expenses.

I finally got a Medicaid card, without which, I would be dead by now.

I had to sell off all my tools and equipment to help support myself, which brings me here.

I am trying to get a grant so I can go back to school and learn a trade that I can make a living with while dealing with my physical limitations.

I would like to take a business management course at my local college and then go on to an accounting degree. In order to achieve this goal, I will have to have financial help above and beyond the $674 dollars a month that I receive from SSI.

I have had to give up my house because I could no longer afford the $600 a month payments and moved into an efficiency apartment close to the school that I am hoping to attend so transportation would not have to factor in to my financial difficulties.