Disabled Single Mother Of Five Looking For Government Disability Grants
by Kathy Iannacone
(Lancaster, PA, USA)
I am a 46-year-old disabled single mother of five looking for government disability grants or any assistance to help me get back my life. Three of my children are in their 20s and two are eight years old.
I had a very positive future planned for my twins. With better then average credit, I had comfortable savings that with some care and several more years of work would have taken care of myself and my children's future.
I was preparing to buy a home and was in fact even looking at homes in my area to purchase. I had been working in a small cleaning business that I started in 1998.
In December of 2006, on my way to work, on a quiet country road, I was hit by a school bus that tried to beat me across an intersection where she had a stop sign and rammed into the side of my car totaling it instantly.
A month or so after the accident and over the last almost four years since the accident, I have developed a condition called fibromyalgia, which I have found, most people don't even believe it exists. And if you would have asked me before this accident I probably would have agreed with you.
But I have endured so much pain some mornings I cannot even get out of bed. The fatigue so disabling, you cannot imagine. I still can't believe it sometimes and get so frustrated all I can do is cry.
I would have to leave my groceries in the store and leave if it hit while I was shopping. I can no longer take my twins out to play as we used to. If you could see their faces when they say "mom can we go out and play?" And I have to say no mom is tired today and cannot go out.
All I can do is go in my room and cry. I am so tired and pained I have all but stopped working and when I do try to do my job, I end up crying the whole way home from the pain it causes me.
I also suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and see a therapist once a week for these years to combat the severe depression that has over come my life since the accident.
I am also not able to sleep as the pain and other symptoms are worse when trying to lie down or sleep and they often keep me up all night.
The insurance that covered many of my doctors has run out. At this point, my savings are gone, my credit cards I worked my whole life to have and good credit it took me my whole life to build are all but gone. I am barely making enough to pay even the basic bills and if not for my child support would have already been penniless.
The Attorneys I have tried to hire have done little but tell me how hard my case is to prove that the accident did this to me, but there is no doubt in my mind whatsoever.
I was an extremely active person who worked hard every day and loved life and planning my future. I spent much of my time helping and doing things for others.
I was active in my children's school but since the accident, do not have the energy to do the things I used to and have become so isolated because all my energy is devoted to caring for my twins and paying what bills I can pay.
I am hoping someone out there knows where I can find help to get better, or find an attorney who still cares about protecting the future of an innocent person whose life was ruined by a senseless accident.
I'm hoping for government disability grants for struggling single mothers to find work I "can" do or financial help to keep up with the bills, or schooling if I could feel better enough to go.
I am more then willing to help myself, but the pain and fatigue are simply overwhelming, and winter is coming, which health-wise is the worst possible time for me.
I don't know where to turn, and I fear that if something doesn't change, I won't be able to keep my family together. The thought of living without my babies is something I don't think I could bear.
I am a very positive person but admit to having become very discouraged over the last three and a half years. I want and need to be able to give my children the life they deserve, or at least the life I worked all my life to be able to give them.
Can anyone help me? Any assistance, whether it's a government disability grant or even advice or words of encouragement would be so appreciated.
