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+--- Thread: A Veteran looking for help (/showthread.php?tid=34368)
A Veteran looking for help - gaterat@hotmail.com - 05-26-2019
This is very difficult for me since I've never had to ask for help before. Ever since I was discharged from the U.S. Army, I'm a Vietnam Era Veteran, I've always been able to provide for myself and pay the bills. My wife and I have worked our entire adult lives and although we've never been wealthy, we've always lived comfortably and provided for our children. Then our lives changed drastically when the company I worked for downsized and I lost my good paying job after almost two decades with the company. I had a small pension and my wife still had her job. Things were tight, but we were able to get by and pay the bills. I looked for work, but because of my age no one would hire me. Even the unemployment office told me that my age has a lot to do with me not being able to find work. They told me that employers are not allowed to discriminate because of age, but unfortunately they do.
Just when we thought things couldn't get worse, I had to have my forth and last joint replacement. I'd already had both hips and one knee totally replaced and now I needed my other knee replaced. The operation went smoothly and I started rehabilitation, but just six weeks after my knee replacement I had a heart attack. After all was said and done, my doctors said I needed to go on disability, that I would never be able to work like I did my entire life. So I applied for Social Security Disability and was approved with no problem. This helped some, we were just able to pay the bills, then six months later we were hit with another setback. My wife was diagnosed with throat cancer. She had to undergo radiation treatments five days a week for seven weeks and it really took its toll on her. She was finally able to return to work, but between the medical bills from my heart attack and my wife's throat cancer, we were in bad shape financially. It doesn't end here.
Our oldest daughter was feeling ill and we told her she needed to see a doctor. She kept resisting saying she was the major bread winner in her household since her husband, a roofer by trade, had fallen off a thirty foot roof and was severely injured. He was in and out of the hospital for a long time and he finally had to have his left leg amputated since the doctors couldn't save it. Since then, he has only been able to work occasional odd jobs. Our daughter finally saw a doctor and found out her problem was a large mass in her abdomen which required surgery. Since she was now unable to work and her husband only worked occasionally, it didn't take long for them to lose their place of residence. Well, we couldn't have them and their six children living on the street, so my wife and I told them they could move in with us. We prayed that we could work it out.
Since then, our utilities have more than doubled. Our cost for food increased even more because now we are feeding ten people instead of two. Our major focus is on the children because we have to provide them a roof, food and clothing. My wife and I have liquidated everything we owned of value just to provide. We are barely keeping the mortgage and utilities up to date. We're paying the past due amounts on the utilities just to keep them on. The bill collectors are hounding us constantly, some of them are threatening to garnish my wife's wages. If that happens, we will all be out on the street.
Like I said in the beginning of this post, it is difficult for me to ask for help, but I'm just hoping that someone, some generous person can help us get through this situation. We're not asking for much. Just enough to get by until we can improve our situation on our own. Thank you for reading this post and thank you to those who are willing to help us.
Donations can be sent to: paypal.me/1IDVET