Online Silver Business Grant For Multiply Disabled Navy Veteran

by Jerry L. Boone
(Marion, IN, USA)

Items I sold in my silver store

I am a 51-year-old disabled veteran who served six years in the United States Navy. I have multiple disabilities and I'm now looking for a business grant to build an online silver store.

Joining the Navy was a career decision that I openly discussed with my former wife who in my mind at the time was 100% supportive of the steps we were about to embark on as a family.

Prior to my deployment to the Eastern Mediterranean near Beirut, Lebanon, my former wife insisted that she quit a well-paying position with the Tidewater Area Medical Group and insisted that she would be better off moving back to Indiana.

As a result I moved my would-be former spouse and newborn baby girl (who was my inspiration) back to Marion, Indiana.

Prior to my return from Beirut, Lebanon, the embassy and barracks travesty had taken place. As a 21-year-old kid I had to sift through rubble and find pieces of my very close friends. Something changed in me.

I became very bitter at the individuals behind this travesty. I decided at that time I would volunteer for every deployment into harm's way that I could. I felt my fellow servicemen deserved every piece of support that I could possibly offer.

I believe this is the time that I began suffering from "PTSD" Post traumatic Stress Disorder, which my psychiatrist believes I suffer from. Unfortunately the Veteran Affairs Rating Board believes she is incorrect and that I should not be service-connected for the emotional issue.

At this time I was completely unaware of marital infidelity that I believed became the driving force of my wife's desire to move back to Marion, Indiana in the first place.

Yet even today the severe depression continues and in my heart and mind, I have not truly enjoyed a true day of happiness.

It has been 35 years since that divorce and still my heart is broken and I am unable to come to terms with my marital failure.

Sadly as a result, in the future I would be caught up in a web that included marrying then divorce, more marriages and then divorces and this cycle repeated itself until June 2010 when I finally went through my last divorce.

Since 1982 and 1983 I have suffered severe depression even at the extent of trying to take my own life in several instances. While serving in the United States Navy, I was injured on several occasions during training missions, on liberty at squadron picnics.

I basically destroyed my knees from jumps out of the helicopters and a severe twisting of my knees while running a training jaunt along the beach in loose sand. I had repeated surgeries.

Additionally during this time, I began suffering from respiratory distress during the evening and night hours. I would awaken unable to adequately breathe and sought medical treatment, which resulted in a diagnosis of severe asthma and allergic reactions to my surroundings both in and out of the home.

While serving on deployments, the issue became more and more apparent. It came to the point that the United States Navy felt it was in their best interest to medically discharge me under honorable conditions from my military service.

This not only added to me depression but 10 months later after my discharge, I attempted suicide to end all of the suffering.

I felt at the time it was all hopeless. The divorce, the rejection by the United States Navy, my injuries that I knew I would have to deal with for the rest of my life was just all so overwhelming.

I stand at 90% service-connected. My ratings are as follows, 60% right knee, 30% left knee, 30% asthma with emphysema COPD, and 10% for lumbar disorder. The Veteran's Affairs Rating Board refuses to put me at 100% total disability.

My service-connected disability is $1682 per month, which I receive on the 1st of the month. I am currently appealing the latest decision by the Veteran's Affairs Rating Board for 100% total disability.

I have also applied for additional service-connected increase due to my asthma-emphysema culminated now with severe sleep apnea, which the Veterans Affairs doctor believes is a direct result of my emphysema-COPD.

My neurologist, orthopedist, and family practitioner all believe I will steadily become more dependent on others more so than I already am.

My family is against me moving into a nursing home, which I believe that since I live with them it causes such a burden.

There are times that I am in so much pain and my body is so rigid because of muscle constriction and unable to speak properly, unable to swallow properly, that I see my mother and father break down crying because there is nothing they can do because it is all out of their control.

I feel as though I am a burden to all of those around me.

With the aforementioned conditions and the onset of Multicentric Castleman's Disease, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, severe anemia from the Castleman's disease and now Parkinson's disease my body is pretty much in constant turmoil.

My daily struggles include unmanageable pain, constant nausea and, and severe and uncontrollable depression.

Sadly I admit that a day does not pass that I cry because of all of these issues.

I also receive Adult Social Security Disability in the amount $1469 per month on the third Wednesday of each month.

I am supposed to receive an additional $900 from my long-term disability company but they stated I will not receive any additional funds until they recoup the balance of my back-pay from Social Security Disability.

They stated that the are allowed to stop paying me until they receive the full back-pay entitlement. I believe I now owe approximately $9500, which the $900 payment will reimburse. Once that debt is settled, I will again begin receiving the $900 per month entitlement.

I feel that I must help my parents who have graciously brought me back home. They are both retired and live on an $1800 per month budget.

Their large home requires $300 per month during the winter for heating just as an example. I pay them $600 in rent to help with their house payment, and $250 per month for groceries.

I also pay $150 per month for gas money because they drive to and from appointments nearly 60 miles away from home to see my Neurologist and Oncologist.

Then of course there are local errands that they so graciously run for me even at their ages of 76 and 81 years old. In addition I pay the phone, cable, and Internet invoice because of their low finances.

I constantly have falls on the stairway because the Veteran's Affairs has refused an in-home improvement for a lift to take me up and down the stairway.

I was additionally turned down for a walk-in shower, which would alleviate much slipping that I encounter as I try to lift my legs over a 3-1/2 ft. high bathtub.

In addition to these bills, I am currently having to pay rent in the amount of $500 monthly, utilities in the amount of $165, $365 car payment besides my own truck payment which I am about to have repossessed ($516).

The cell phone, which she needs for work, and insurance for the vehicles are all costing me nearly $2835 of my benefits.

So as it stands, out of $3151 that I receive in benefits, I have right as it stands, there's $316 left over to take care of my own bills and needs.

I have reached out to several organizations for assistance, but as our economy is suffering so do the coffers of many organizations desiring to help but have fallen prey to financial difficulty themselves.

I am not allowed to seek any employment or gain income because of my Adult Disability status through the Social Security Administration.

Realistically I am unable to perform the simplest of tasks without assistance because of the rigidity in my hands. I am very thankful for my friend who is typing this as I attempt to dictate my position and innermost feelings of my disability and financial situation.

I have need of an in-home lift that will transport me up and down a flight of seventeen stairs, a new walk-in shower that will remove the daily risks of falling.

I am unable to afford to hire a home health aide to visit twice a week to assist me even though I receive Social Security. As you see, I am unqualified for Medicare until I have been on Adult Disability Social Security until April 30, 2012.

I must rely on an already over-burdened Veterans Medical system that must spread their resources among several million veterans, which numbers increase daily as a result of the Middle East situations.

I have hired an attorney to assist me with my appeal to the Veteran's Administration, which will undoubtedly cost several thousand dollars.

In addition I am faced with repaying $6,000+ in student loans which I have tried to have forgiven due to my 100% Social Security Disability.

I have been submitting the required paperwork over and over again for nearly a year but the Sallie Mae Corporation keeps losing or misplacing my paperwork.

I have begun researching starting an online store, for which I need $5,500 to have it completely put into place with Google and Amazon.com.

I recently applied for a grant, which was turned down. They said I lacked the necessary experience, even though I've been selling silver and commemorative numismatics for the last four years.

After a break-in I lost over $6700 in silver bullion. That collapsed that business because Allstate stated it was considered money, and they would only pay $250 reimbursement, which was even less than the deductible.

I was making a 15% profit margin until the precious metals market had a steep incline and it became nearly impossible to refill the shelves with additional bullion because of the high cost.

In order for me to restart my silver business I would need a grant to purchase materials in the amount of $25,000 to adequately supply the business with materials.

I can say I had a long list of buyers who were repeated sales after sales which now have gone elsewhere because of the theft that devastated and depleted my reserves.

I deeply appreciate your time involved in reviewing my story.