Disabled Vietnam Veteran Seeks Grant Money Or Other Help To Save Home
by Jesse Douglas Pederson
I'm married and the father of two grown children. I have a daughter who lives in Wamego, Kansas and she has given us a grandson and a granddaughter. I have a son who lives in Fate, Texas and he has given us twin granddaughters. Happily, we see them a lot. I have a stepson who lives in Woodstock, Georgia and he has given us three grandsons. I started having problems while in the Navy with my heart and was told that I had premature beats of the left ventricle. There were never any other follow-ups done. After more than 45 plus years later there were problems. On October 24, 2010, my wife took me to the Veterans Hospital to the emergency room where they admitted me. They did tests and told me that I had congestive heart failure and Atrial Fibrillation. I have been diabetic for a few years, but it is under control with the help of Metformin. The doctors told me that my left ventricle was very weak and that I would be on blood thinners and tested a lot. I also have posttraumatic stress disorder, which I am getting help with at the Veterans Hospital. I have been on blood pressure pills for years, but my doctor took me off of them about three weeks ago because my blood pressure was too low. Today I checked my blood pressure and it was too high, so it looks like I may be going back on it again. On March 24, 2011 the doctors put in a pacemaker/defibrillator. The next day, they had to put one of the wires back in place, which meant another surgery. After that they performed an ablation the same day. I continue to go to all my doctors' appointments as scheduled. Because of my disability I cannot drive and my wife cannot work because she has to take me to all of my appointments and take care of me as well. The only income we have is my social security and it is not enough to pay the mortgage and car payment much less all the other bills we have. Thank goodness for food stamps or else we would be starving. We have gotten behind on our mortgage and they are saying if we don't get caught up soon that they will take our home from us. We really don't know what else to do, we are trying, but what little bit of money we have doesn't go far enough. We have tried different agencies to get help with our mortgage. We got a list of agencies from a food bank that we were going to before we got our food stamps. Everyone we called on the list either did not have the money at that time or they would not help unless you were only one month behind on the mortgage. I have had friends tell me that if I needed anything to let them know and when I did they could not help. We went to the Disabled American Veterans office three weeks ago, and they are looking into it. I e-mailed our Congresswoman to see if she could help speed up the process. Our Children cannot help us because they have a hard time making ends meet as well. We just take it day by day and pray every day that things will get better. Prayer is the only thing no one can take from you while you are alive! We really need a grant to help us so that we do not lose our home. All help is greatly appreciated. Once my Veterans pension starts, we will be fine. I do not know when that will be because they have not ruled on it yet and it has been six months since I filed. I get a letter about every other month saying that they are still working on it.
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