I would like to start by telling whoever reads this a bit about myself and a little bit of back story.. My name is Joseph “Christopher” Matthews, I am 47 years old but I feel like I’m 87.. I joined the US Army right out of highschool, even had to get my mother to sign for me because I was too young to join.. I completed basic training and advanced infantry training while stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.. My first duty assignment sent me to Fort Stewart, Georgia where I would stay thru completion of my duty assignment.. I did spend some time across the pond in the big sand box in Kuwait and Iraq.. I had a terrific track record with many medals and accomodations..
I suffer from night terrors, horrible nightmares, manic depressant, bipolar, I have terrible anxiety, my lungs are shot, diagnosed with emphysema, asthma, COPD, recently diagnosed with diabetes, I have spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, I’ve had around 15 surgeries, many many broken bones, a titanium rod in my right leg, plates and screws hold my right wrist to my arm, They found a mass in my ear canal and have several teeth that are in need of repair.. I have neuropathy in my feet along with toenail fungus on both feet that won’t go away, Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, sleep apnea, and of course all the other usual aches and pains.. I’m sure there’s more but that should paint a pretty good picture..
I was employed at Habitat for Humanity for almost a year before having to take unpaid medical leave due to difficulty breathing and completing assigned tasks.. Since I was a part time employee I wasn’t eligible for paid medical leave.. That’s about the time when everything started to come unglued and fall apart..
My wife and I sold our townhome with the intention of buying a house.. Selling it was easy because everything on the inside was new.. We had a busted water pipe on the second floor which leaked through the ceiling and destroyed the walls, the ceiling, and the floors. It was a disaster with $55,000 worth of damage.. After selling We decided to rent an apartment for a year to wait on the housing market and also to give us time to be able to find what we wanted in a house.. And in the course of that year I was going to college, taking a few classes, and also working at Habitat for humanity part time while we stayed in the apartment.. fast forward to the end of our lease about a month before it was set to expire, we noticed that we had bed bugs.. Now I don’t know if it came from somebody at the apartments. Another neighbor perhaps, or if it came from Habitat for humanity on something that I may have brought home, I’m not sure.. We had to get two companies to come out. The first company didn’t get rid of them but they still charged us $3,000.. The second company charged us $8,000 but they got rid of them. They sprayed and used the heat treatment at the apartment and then came and sprayed at our new house two or three times.. The biggest downfall was we had to throw away our brand new living room suit. We had an ottoman, a recliner, and couch that connected to a sectional.. It was a nice gray leather set that I really enjoyed, but the company said that they couldn’t get rid of them. It was infested so bad that we couldn’t take it to our new place and we had to dispose of it. I hated throw it away because that put us not having any furniture at our new place and then having a shell out at $11,000 that was unexpected.. At our new house I have a window pane that’s broken that I need to replace the glass because there’s a hole in it. I have two other windows that need repair.. I have a big hole in the bathroom closet because I had a water leak from the shower that I had to rip the wall out to repair and I still haven’t replaced and fixed that yet.. There is no ventilation in the bathroom so the popcorn is starting to fall and break off of the ceiling.. The garage spring broke so I will not go up and down. It’s very hot in there without the garage door being able to open up. You can’t really go in there, The laundry floor and spare bedroom floor needs replacing.. It’s all I can do to keep the grass cut. I run out of breath and about die. I have to take a break and cut it in sections over a few days at a time.. I am also in need of about $12,000 worth of dental work.. I have two policies but still isn’t enough. It covers about one crown and one root canal and maybe a filling or two and then I have to wait again till July for it to start over.. I just don’t have $1,500 laying around for each tooth.. We only have one car and the windshield has a huge crack in it and it has needed replacing since last year.. I have two sheds in the backyard, one for storage and one for a workshop.. My workshop has a limb sticking through the roof coming through the other side in the ceiling. I need to take the limb out and replace the shingles but I don’t want to pull the limb out because there will be a hole in it so I have to wait till I’m ready to fix it before I remove the limb.. The list goes on and on and on.. My wife cries herself to sleep every night and so depressed and down because of the money problems.. We can’t afford to barely live after paying the bills. We’re just barely scraping by if that.. We get groceries on Saturday if we can because Thursday and Friday the refrigerator is empty with nothing to eat.. I just found out today that there was fraud on my checking account. Someone got access to my card and spent my entire VA check till I have nothing until it’s reversed which could take up to 15 business days.. I don’t know what I’m going to do, I thought about hanging myself but then somebody would have to cut me down and we won’t have the money to bury me.. What do I do? Where do I start? I Didn’t request specific finances for a certain situation because my whole life is a situation and any money would help. It would go to good use.. Things are very stressful, my wife and I have started sleeping in separate rooms due to not being able to take care of things due to financial hardship, it is very depressing.
It is really starting to eat at our relationship and destroy everything around us, I feel lost.. I really only have one friend that I can find in trust with my life, But lo and behold. He has stage 4 throat cancer and is laying up in the hospital slowly dying.. The friendship of 30 years is slowly dissolving.. If it weren’t for this little puppy that we have, I probably would be one of the 22.. I would greatly appreciate any help. Doesn’t matter if it’s financial ( although it would be greatly appreciated ) or just someone to talk to, Maybe somebody can help me lift some of these burdens off of My shoulders. Thank you..
Christopher Matthews
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