I need help..long story

[Jay5oh]

I hate to ask this but I'm in a bind and I've lost all sense of pride and/or ego and I need help. I understand this site wasn't built for this type of thing so please forgive me.

On July 19th I broke my wrist. I am uninsured and had to have surgery where they installed a plate and 12 screws in my wrist area to keep it together while it healed. I got my cast off about 3 weeks ago and the bills started rolling in. to date I have close to $45,000 of medical bills. I haven't worked since the incident because my employer "doesn't have anything for me to do" so they put me on family medical leave act. I can barely move my wrist, I can bend it about a half inch. my fingers are getting looser but the joints hurt after too much movement. I tried to shoot a couple weeks ago, I took my boy's .22 rifle. Shot about 5 rounds and it was a disaster. I don't know what I'm going to do if I can't shoot anymore (sounds crazy but it's true). Now the doctor wants to do another surgery to remove 2 of the screws because they are too long and *may* cut a tendon or something but they said I need to find medical insurance before they will do it. I, like most people have other bills like credit cards, rent, heating, car ins, etc. With the medical bills and "regular" bills minus wages I'm in a bind. We (my GF & I) have decided to move. Her mother has a trailer in her backyard of her house and said we could live there until we get straightened out. That will free up a few hundred dollars a month (a small step in the right direction) I'm working on help for the med bills but that has been a battle. I don't know how thats going to pan out yet.

Anyway, the trailer needs some work. Nothing crazy like new floors or anything. It needs some carpeting laid down, a couple pieces of paneling installed, 2-3 windows framed in, kitchen cabinets/sink/counter tops, tub enclosure/tub surround installed, plumbing for the shower and some small things like paint that I am going to try to do. All of the parts are there/will be there, they just need put together. We will also need help moving approx the end of november/first of december I obviously don't have money to pay someone but I'll provide food & drink and I'm decent with a camera if you'd like some portraits done or I can look for things to barter off. I'm saving my guns and camera gear as a last resort to sell for my bills and cost of living.

This accident was truely a life changing event. I'm 33, had a decent paying job. Had a good side job starting to take off. Had a nice apartment. Had a decent car. And then bam, in a 10 seconds it's gone and we are going to end up living "back at home". What a friggen disaster my life has become.

Again, I appologise for the 'sob' story. If anyone can help with any of the above it would truely be appreciated.

Thank you,
Jason

[P-11 shooter]

After being off for months I am finally going back to work. However, I have weekends off.

I can most likely lend a hand. I can't say for sure until I find out what's going on with work, but I can at the very least donate a day of free labor to help a member.

We need to stick together, weather it's legal troubles, family troubles, money troubles, or medical troubles we have to help each other out.

I know it's a hard thing you have to sacrifice your lving situation to get back on you feet. I'm living it right now.



I'll help.

[str8shooter]

Have you checked into Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) yet? You've had 7.65% sucked out of every paycheck, and this is one of the reasons why. You can't start collecting until you've been disabled for 5 months, but I believe you can start the application process now to get the ball rolling, and if you can't go back to work because of your injury, you'll start getting checks as soon as you're eligible. It's a tedious process, and requires a lot of proactiveness on your part, but it's not difficult. You'll have to interview with a case worker, and that can be done over the phone, but if you go to the office you'll find a lot of information regarding other types of aid that can help with your financial burdens as well. You can also talk to the hospital billing department and find out what organizations, some private, some publically funded that they work with that may cover some or possibly all of your medical bills.

There are so many cheats in this country always trying to work the system to get something they don't deserve, but when a legitimate case comes asking for help, the process goes smoothly as long as all the i's are dotted and t's crossed. A note from your employer detailing how your injury is preventing you from working, and one from your doctor backing it up should be all you need to start applying to get some financial relief. The system works for honest people, you just have to jump through a lot of hoops because of the safeguards put in to (try to) catch the dishonest people.

As far as getting some work done to make your new residence liveable, by now I'm sure you've seen how the members of this group take care of their own. It sounds like you're doing what you can, but obviously with a wrist fresh off of surgery it could be downright dangerous for you to attempt some of the tasks that need to be done. You've got a lot of company in the county, so offer up a few choices for a date and time and see who's available to pitch in a few hours. Unfortunately, advice is all I can offer from this side of the state, but it doesn't sound like there's too much to do and if the materials are there, that's half the battle.

I wish you the best, and hope things turn around back in the right direction as quickly as they took a bad turn. And I'll reiterate, be proactive and start tomorrow, don't delay. Get on the phone, the internet and get to the library. Help is out there, but you have to make the effort to find it.

[Emptymag]

Jay,
If I can, I'll help.
(You don't want me doing plumbing though. Trust me.)

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Maybe a few of us from this area could share a ride. Hell, even if it turns out that I can't work it into my schedule, I'd chip in a few bucks to help pay for gas for whoever does head up your way.

Hang in there man.

[P-11 shooter]

Originally Posted by Emptymag

Jay,
If I can, I'll help.
(You don't want me doing plumbing though. Trust me.)

I'll keep an eye on this thread. Maybe a few of us from this area could share a ride. Hell, even if it turns out that I can't work it into my schedule, I'd chip in a few bucks to help pay for gas for whoever does head up your way.

Hang in there man.

Alot of people are off on the weekends.

Hell, if we can all get together to help a member move, we can get together and help you fix up your new pad.

I'm down. Just let me know when you guys are free.

[Jay5oh]

p-11 & EM
First, thank you both for even replying to this thread. I really don't know what to say except thank you for offering to help. We are going over friday night to formulate a plan of attack. I will update as needed. Again, thank you both.

Str8
I really didn't want to get into this..guess I have a little pride left.. but...I've tried the hospital. I had to apply for medical assistance first and get denied (which is what happened) and then apply for their 'charity' program. the hospital also denied me. They did offer to reduce the debt by $2,000 if I paid off the remaining ~$38,000 in two weeks. There is alot more 'in the works' currently that is irrelevent to the thread so I'm not going to post it. I thank you for your reply and I hope you don't take my reply negatively in any way. I just wanted to state that I am trying to do something about it and not just sitting on my ass and waiting for someone to take care of me. It pisses me off that the welfare system is so corrupt that a person on hard times can't get any help because they made too much money a year ago while a person can sell drugs all night, not be a contributing member of society and get free housing, food and even a car. I worked my ass off for what I have and I don't have a problem with that, thats how it should be.

[normanvin]

I would be glad to help. But I am on the other end of the state. I would also suggest you check in with some of the state services that are out there.


Give yourself some time to heal. You will be back to shooting. I took off a good section of my hand years ago. I have almost no movement in my pinky. I now have authorities in my wrist. I still shoot.

This would be a good opportunity to shoot with your weak hand.

[str8shooter]

Originally Posted by Jay5oh

...
Str8
I really didn't want to get into this..guess I have a little pride left.. but...I've tried the hospital. I had to apply for medical assistance first and get denied (which is what happened) and then apply for their 'charity' program. the hospital also denied me. They did offer to reduce the debt by $2,000 if I paid off the remaining ~$38,000 in two weeks. There is alot more 'in the works' currently that is irrelevent to the thread so I'm not going to post it. I thank you for your reply and I hope you don't take my reply negatively in any way. I just wanted to state that I am trying to do something about it and not just sitting on my ass and waiting for someone to take care of me. It pisses me off that the welfare system is so corrupt that a person on hard times can't get any help because they made too much money a year ago while a person can sell drugs all night, not be a contributing member of society and get free housing, food and even a car. I worked my ass off for what I have and I don't have a problem with that, thats how it should be.

No worries, bro. I was just putting ideas out there that I had to learn the hard way, so I wanted to be sure you had a heads up on some services out there. The people who work in those departments are overloaded, so they don't go looking for more clients, which is why I emphasized you going to them. It looks like you're doing your part, hopefully something will come through for you.

[Jay5oh]

Norm, thanks for the encouragement.

Str8, thank you for your suggestions and not taking offense to my reply.

To the local guys who have PM'd me, thank you both for offering to help and I will be updating the thread as we go with "work party" dates.

All, I'm genuinly impressed at the showing of concern/consideration/compassion of the members of this site. It means alot, thank you all.

[CKPjr]

Where is trailer located? will all parts be there? have some evenings and weekends off, when not traveling to NY to get my mothers list done.
have most tools
easier to reach me at bmxdad212@aol.com
chuck