Brighten Your Day

I was going through a rough patch several weeks back and I HATE asking for help. Both of my parents have passed away, and my twin brother has enough on his plate with a mortgage, his own bills, and a wife and three boys to support.

I have been receiving disability for a few years due to a number of health issues. When dad passed he left a fair bit of money for my brother and I, but a year after he passed my health took a header and I ended up in the hospital five times in as many months. Any one of those times I should have died, and actually was technically dead twice, one of the others in a medically induced coma. The last time it took 8 shocks to get my heart back in rhythm and I was in the hospital for 17 days.

The doctors gave me a 30% chance of living and told my brother they gave me 3 months to live, 6 would be a miracle. The only way they would let me go home was on hospice with 24/7 care givers and needed 2 there at all times because I could not walk and needed a lift to move me which require 2 people to operate at the rate of $600 per person per day.

Bills were around $18,000 for a two week time period.

Needless to say the money dad left was gone in short order. I’m now 2 years out with no reoccurrence of the things that landed me.

In any event, I went from working about 60 hrs/week down to none when I went on disability. I hated it and still do, though I now have a job working part time from home, but long tangent aside: I was going through a very rough patch, unsure of how I would pay rent much less my other bills.

I bit back my pride and asked a few friends for assistance but with Covid and shut downs, etc, nobody could afford it. I was already receiving Medicare, was on a waiting list for rental assistance, was receiving food stamps, and my income to debt ratio was such that I didn’t qualify for a loan.

As a last ditch effort I started a Go Fund Me (which made me ditch the last of my pride, I truly hated doing it). I got a few donations of $20 and was very grateful. Then one morning I woke up to a $500 donation. If you are unfamiliar with Go Fund Me, those who donate are anonymous to everyone else, but you can see who they are from as the recipient.

The person it came from was someone I went to high school with (28 years ago) who was one year behind me. We weren’t even friends, just acquaintances, and I have not seen him since then. I messaged him on Facebook and asked him why. He said he had read my GFM story and was struck by how strong I was under difficult circumstances and he didn’t think he could have done the same. Then said he didn’t want it back, just to pay it forward.

I cried at his generosity and kindness, and it helped bridge the gap until I received my first paycheck and a decent tax refund for 2020.

I did pay him back and the others who donated. I am grateful to each one, but I will always remember him and pay it forward whenever I have the means to.