58 Year Old Multiply Disabled Woman Seeks Government Business Grant

by Nancy McIllip
(Muncie, Indiana, USA)

I am 58 years old, and although disabled in many ways, I'm capable of having a small business of my own. So I'm looking for a business grant.

I have had a hysterectomy and five surgeries for blood clots in my legs. One blood clot went through my heart to the lung.

I also have a tumor in my saliva gland and this is just part of my story.

I'm also missing part of my immune system so I have to have infusions once a month.

Five years ago when my lungs started to get bad I was told I would have only 35% lung function and I would never work again. I went through pulmonary therapy twice and raised my lung function to 48%.

In October of this year I was in a car accident. I was run off the road and the car didn't even stop. Both air bags deployed in my face and I breathed in the chemicals from the air bags.

God must have been watching me that day. I had no broken bones, just bruising. But the chemicals in the air bags took 20% of my lung function I can never get back.

Because I had malignant melanoma three years ago I have to wait two more years before I can be considered for a transplant.

If you have this particular type of cancer and you have a transplant they say the cancer comes back with a vengeance.

I also need two more years of infusions for my immune system. In February I was on a ventilator. I contracted pneumonia.

My problem is our insurance company in January will have a $5000 deductible. My breathing machine medicine alone is over $800 a month. I only receive $864 on my disability and I have about 13 other prescriptions I take.

I do have a husband that works but he doesn't make a lot. I don't qualify for help on other programs because we have a 401K, but we have no emergency funds we can draw from it.

The only way to get that money is for my husband to quit his job, and if we do that I can't get insured again because of the type of cancer I had. It's a real Catch-22.

I would like to have grant money to get supplies to start a small business to help pay our bills and afford some of my medicine.

I have orders for my project already but I don't have start-up money because of my medical costs.

I can only make so much a month extra. Last year I could afford all my medicines. Now with 30% lung function, I can't sit and make my project because right now I have trouble getting from one end of my house to the other.

Oh! Did I mention I had a heart attack four weeks ago? I had been on steroids for so long it damaged my heart muscles. My heart rate ran 153 for several months

Any help at all would be great. Sincerely, Nancy McIllip.