To anyone reading this, thank you for taking some of your time to hear me out. My name is Kyle. I’m 34 years old and drowning in debt. I’m unable to work because my right knee is currently non weight bearing due to the side effects of a staph infection I had in my knee in August of 2019. This required emergency surgery at the time, and since then I’ve gone through physical therapy and multiple injections to help me manage. Despite getting all of this treatment, I reinjured my knee and there is enough damage to the ligaments, cartilage, and bones in the joint that I may need another surgery just to be able to walk well enough to work again.
The issue of debt comes into play because my insurance in 2019 covered only $11,000 of a total of about $30,000 in medical bills. That meant that despite working full time and paying for medical insurance, I was still responsible for roughly $19,000 because of the fact that my surgery was designated an “emergency.” While it truly was an emergency at the time, that classification in the billing made such a drastic difference in cost that I have not recovered.
I made the mistake at one point in 2020 of paying for some of the medical bills with credit cards I had, only to have the interest rates on the credit cards push my minimum payments so high that I needed a second job. Since then it has been a struggle just to keep up with rent, utility bills, and the credit card payments. This of course has only added to the problem, because I’ve been unable to make any other payments on the still outstanding medical bills.
As recently as July, I was able to walk well and was working about 65 hours a week to try paying down credit card balances and gradually chip away at the medical bills. Unfortunately I slipped on the stairs in my apartment and twisted my right knee. This did enough damage that I haven’t been able to work since. My medical leave through work recently expired because it has been more than 3 months now so my company has terminated me, and I ran out of sick time pay only two weeks after my injury. I’ve been unable to get any other work, as I’ve always done manual labor and don’t even have a computer at home.
My wife is working as much as she possibly can to keep us afloat, but our money is essentially run out and we can no longer afford to pay our rent. She doesn’t deserve to be held down because of me. Right now all I want is to get myself right so that I can start to contribute again. I’m not asking for anyone to give any more than they can. I don’t want to use this site as a way to pay for everything, just a way to get me back on my feet so that I can do my part and get back to being the hard worker I was for the past 15 years. If something doesn’t change soon, I don’t know how we’re going to survive.
I was told I should put a number on our needs to make it clearer, so I’ll just say that if I can raise $6,000 that would be enough to get our bills and rent paid for the next few months, and for me to get my physical therapy paid for so that I could have a chance at getting back to a normal life. If I can just get to that point, I’ll happily go back to working hard and tackling the debt that I have.
Thank you for reading my story. I apologize for it being so long, but felt the need to really explain myself and my situation. I will be eternally grateful for any contributions, and I promise to come back to this site and help others who have need once I am able to.
paypal.me/klem88