RA And Fibromyalgia Disabled Woman Seeks Grant Money For Normal Life

by Diana Sharp
(Titusville, Florida, USA)

Hi, my name is Diana and I am 52 years old. When I was 18, I graduated from Cocoa High School. I lived with my 3 brothers and 1 sister on a farm.

When I turned 20 I married my high school sweetheart. At 22 I had my 1st son Christopher. At 24, along came Jason.

My Ex-husband and I raised our 2 sons while both of us made a living. I worked in the medical field for the same doctor for 24 years.

At age 35 I had a total hysterectomy. Two weeks after surgery I started training for a 26-mile marathon for the leukemia society for a 6 year old named Michael.

I made it across the finish line and Michael didn't. I continued to do marathons and body building while going through a divorce.

My son Jason was over in Iraq fighting for our country while I was at home fighting for a will to live.

I also had temporary custody of a 1-month-old baby girl named Kaitlyn, which I raised until she was two.

It was decided at the DCF meeting that I wasn't healthy enough to care for her any longer. But I continued to fight to have custody but I didn't have the strength in me to keep going.

In 2004, I was training for a body building competition and feeling really tired and decided to talk to the doctor. At that time there were labs taken.

My creatinine level was EXTREMELY elevated. Doctors decided to do further testing. When I turned 45 I was diagnosed with RA/Fibromyalgia.

I also have 2 bulging disks in my back.

At that time doctors decided that my course of treatment was to be aggressive. At that point I was advised to go on disability.

Thank God to my family and friends who helped support me through this. God knows the strength you need from the soul to fight my battle, which I continue to battle today.

After 3 very long, stressful years, I was deemed disabled by the court system in the state of Florida. If you don't live in Florida let me tell you a little bit about it.

You have to be denied 3 times before you can obtain an attorney to take your case and take it to the court system.

In those 3 years you are not allowed to have any income. But you have to pay for your attorney, pay for your medication, doctors, rent, food etc.

You're told that there is no help unless you're in rehab, pregnant, or in jail there is no help from the government.

Today it is a struggle to get help from the state. I'm divorced, and still struggling to survive.

In October of 2009 the dentist advised me that I need $12,000 in dental work done. This is due to my autoimmune system disease.

Today I still struggle with my medical bills and continuing work that needs to be done to be the happy, smiley Diana.

In the state of Florida they put the non-important things first, which is why I'm applying for a government grant.

I have SSDI, and can no longer work. I can't begin to describe all of the struggles I deal with day to day to put one foot in front of the other on this path I had no choice in.

Donations are very hard to come by. Example: My father told me to come to the church to get some food from the pantry and I was advised that I wasn't in the church zip code.

Doctors today want their money upfront. Medicare pays 80%. I have cost of share, which I have to meet a share of cost before I am eligible for Medicaid.

If I pay the 20% it's not applied to my cost of share so I cannot get my Medicaid. So I'm struggling to pay doctor bills and rent, and help take care of my grandsons/sons.

That's where I'm at with my earning efforts. I'm looking for grants to help with my monthly living expenses.

I'm getting ready to go back to school, if there is any help out there for dental so I can get my mental, physical appearance back to be able to get a at least a part-time job.

In a business you need to be well dressed and presented and well groomed to be a part of their work family. At this point my appearance is too far gone to be able to attempt to get a job.

Today I am super gluing a band-aid for my teeth that are missing. It's very hard for me to smile or talk to people anymore.

At this point all I'm asking for is a little bit of help to get started back on the right foot.

I'm not looking for a business grant at this time. I will graduate college January 7, 2013. At that point I will be looking into business grants.