Stroke Disabled Man Needs Grant Money For Medically Caused Debt Relief

by Christine Hockenbroch
(Liverpool, Pennsylvania, USA)

My husband and I married young, 18 and 21 years old. We had two daughters, and now have two beautiful grandchildren.

My husband worked in modular home plants for years, but the money wasn't very good, so in 1989 he started working road construction.

I worked odd jobs for extra money so I could be home with the kids until they started school.

When my youngest started school I got my license to drive a school bus.

It was rough in the winter when the roads were bad, but a vey rewarding job. I drove for 12 years, until arthritis in my foot forced me to find another job.

My daughter was always having trouble finding childcare, and I enjoyed working with children so we decided to start a day care. That was in September of 2008.

In October of 2008, Halloween night to be exact, my husband suffered a severe stroke. He was in the hospital for two weeks after having by-pass surgery, a heart valve replacement, and a pacemaker/defibrillator inserted.

He then was in rehab for two weeks for therapy. He came home two days before Thanksgiving and was a different person.

My husband worked his way up from a laborer, to a foreman, to a concrete batch plant operator, to a supervisor.

We always prided ourselves on our excellent credit, and made sure all our bills were paid on time or before.

After the stroke, our life took a drastic turn, for the worse. My husband tried to go back to work but could not do the job.

We applied for disability, but had to wait until May 2009 to receive a check. His company paid him until the first week in January 2009, but then his vacation pay ran out, and there was very little money coming in.

You see, my daycare took a hit with the economy, and parents who were laid off were watching the children because they couldn't afford childcare.

So while I was trying to keep my business afloat we were financially sinking.

The AES was trying to help us out with the parent plus school loan we took out for our daughter who graduated in May with her bachelors in human services. Our other daughter is an LPN going for her RN.

But there was no help with anything else. They all wanted to be paid. Then to top everything off, since my husband lost his job, he also lost our medical insurance.

He could not get Medicare because he was not on disability for two years so he is doing odd jobs for people so he can earn money to qualify for insurance for disabled workers.

He still has to pay for his insurance and I now had to get medical insurance, the cheapest being $260 a month. And that's not even good insurance. My husband was 44 years old, never missed work, and was an excellent provider.

Now he cannot read, can barely write, can't do math, and has trouble speaking and remembering what you just asked him, and we are struggling day to day to make ends meet.

We tried to do debt consolidation, but the longest you can take it out for is four years, and the payment is too high. We wouldn't be able to pay it.

We tried bankruptcy, but we own our home and a small piece of land given to my husband by his grandfather, and he doesn't want to lose either.

On top of that, they wanted two appraisals. Where are we going to get the money for appraisals, if we can't even pay our bills?

We are not irresponsible people. We are hard working, church attending, middle class people who need some help.

We're just asking for financial help for someone who was broadsided by a medical stroke. Any help would be greatly appreciated.