Home Saving And Repair Grant For TBI Disabled Marine And Guard Veteran
by Connie Fox
Jared has served this great country for 4 years in the Marines and the last 9 years in the Minnesota National Guard. We have been married for 7 years this month and have been blessed with one daughter, Anna. She is already 6 and enjoying the 1st grade this year. On Jared's last tour to Iraq he was injured by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Jared held the gunner position in his vehicle and when the IED exploded it threw shockwaves into Jared and the bulletproof glass that surrounded him causing a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Jared's TBI is focused primarily in the frontal lobe of his brain. The frontal lobe is where most of your personality and emotions lie. Once Jared returned home to his family many things changed. Jared can no longer hold or maintain a "regular" job. He has been evaluated by our VA hospital and has been rated at 90% disabled. Until this year the VA did not even have a category to rate a TBI and because of this we have not been able to qualify for a 100% rating. At a 90% rating he does not qualify for their vocational rehabilitation for they do not believe he will be able to hold a job after completion. In the same breath the VA also states that he must work because he is not disabled enough. Along with Jared's TBI he also has several compressed vertebra, muscle spasms and severe depression and mood swings. For the last 4 months in a row the VA has withheld all of Jared's VA Disability benefits. This has greatly hurt our household. We have been unable to pay all of our bills and have significantly fallen behind on our mortgage. We are blessed though as far as Jared's medications are concerned; they are all fully paid for by the VA health system. Without his depression, mood stabilizer and muscle relaxant medications, he would not be able to get up each day. Unfortunately, with neither Jared nor I able to have a full time job Jared is the only one with medical coverage. I have been able to have a part-time job outside of the home along with caring for my family. The downside is that this then puts our household income just over the guidelines in order to received state assistance for food, money or medical. Because of Jared's injuries I have had to quit my at home daycare. Jared was unable to be around all the children for my daycare business. But he also has severe crowd anxiety and was unable to leave the home while I had children in my care. I now stay at home to help care for him and our daughter. I am able to take in some sewing work to do at home and work part-time close to home to help support our family, but I'm unable to work full time for Jared is not able to care for our child alone. We have been able to receive the 90% VA disability rating for a monthly benefit along with qualifying for Disability Social Security. We are currently appealing for the VA to award Jared with 100% disability, which will literally double our income per month. As of this month our 90% VA disability benefits have resumed; however, we are now behind and have no way to catch up… only maintain. I am writing for this grant today in hopes to help get our family through these tough times and back onto stable financial ground. We are currently searching for grants that would be able to help us put our household and family back on stable ground financially. We are severely behind on our mortgage and about to lose our home. We are in need of a grant of $9591.85 in order to reinstate our loan to good standing. We are also behind on our electric/gas with Excel energy. As of October 15, 2011 our balance due is $3427.15. We also need to repair our furnace for we are about to move into the cold season in MN. We have been able to get by on a space heater so far but soon will be unable to as we head into true winter. If we are able to as well we would like to repair a hot tub we own. We bought it when Jared first returned home to help with his muscle spasms and cramping. He has been unable to have this relief because we do not have the money to repair it. It has been estimated at $850 in repairs for this water therapy. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our request. Connie and Jared Fox
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