It's hard for everyone. Hate. Inflation. A Federal “Tammany Hall” that is stealing from those they swore to protect.

I am 71 years old. Disabled w/o any kind of support system or social network. My Social Security is not enough to live on. If I could work, I would. 

Up until my work injury protecting an unconscious patient, I was independent and contributing.

Now both of my shoulders are marginally functional. I can barely take care of myself.

The medical system has failed me. It has left me broken and an addict to pain medication to address 30 years of CPS… Chronic Pain Syndrome. 

Social Services, especially under the current administration, has nothing to offer but disappointment.

Like millions of others, I balance survival in silent poverty.

I need help or I will not make it.

If I can't afford to live in my little (but nice) home… I can't afford to live in any decent place.

I played by the rules. Did my job. Whether a teacher, social worker, or shift manager for automotive parts plant…I did my best to make things better. 

When I worked as a Rad Tech in a major hospital, I always answered the call for “moving help”… transporting a sedated and often morbidly obese patient. Our hospital is designed to accommodate gastric surgeries.

1996, I was seriously injured when I caught a sedated morbidly obese patient sliding head first from a Specials' procedure table to it's concrete floor 5 feet below. Miraculously, I was able to redirect this massive patient into a nearby transport chair. She were uninjured. I was not as lucky.

After a reconstructive surgery on each shoulder and two painful rehabs, the procedures failed. In pain and limitation of movement, there was little to no improvement. I became a liability, so I was fired. 

Fast forward to present day… I am food insecure and short on bills every month. If not for eBay and my selling little pieces of my life to make up for the increasing shortfall, I would have lost my home by now.

I am running out of shit to sell. My pain gets worse and there are days I cannot even change my shirt.

The stress/pain worsens my PTSD. 

In 1980, while I was working as a manager to a small, neighborhood bar in lower Manhattan, NYC I was assaulted. Later I found out t was a hit on my life set up by an ex-day manager fired because he was caught stealing. The two thugs cuffed my hands behind me and threw me face down on that dirty bar floor. Before I could get up, they knelt on each side and pinned me down. That's when the fun began. They took turns pistol whipping me with their long barreled 38mm pistols. Like my head was a pinata.

I had an NDE. Near Death Experience. My soul left my body and I heard one say to the other… “He's dead. Let's go.”

Suffice to say I did survive. I still get emotional memories and ghost pain. I am lucky to be here, even though it doesn't feel like it too much of the time. 

I can't qualify for Medicaid. When I tried Food Stamps I was told I would get $14 a month. I unceremoniously told them what to do with the $14.

The $23,500 would pay off my 2nd mortgage, my ever increasing credit card (omfg), and let me get caught up on all the things I have had to put off to…never. It would also allow me to catch up on some medical problems also neglected due to lack of co-pays.

Simply…it would save my life and allow me a quality of life I have not experienced in 30 years.

If you can, please help. Thank you.