Help us recover from an Emergency Surgery

Back in June, my wonderful wife Melonie quit her overly stressful job and got an electric scooter to get around easier on so that she could help pick up our son from school easier on days that I work. I'm a filmmaker, and with COVID, that work has been few and far between due to proximities and safety precautions. Unfortunately, the day she got the scooter, she lost control of it and had to bail off.

When she bailed, she landed hard on her knee, which compacted her tibia nearly 8mm. We had to rush her to the emergency room, stay there for six hours while they ran tests and did scans. When we went to get her back home, she couldn't walk on the crutches, and were forced to buy a wheelchair with our now dwindling funds. That was a Wednesday.

Thursday we got her in to a doctor, who managed to get her scheduled for surgery that Saturday. They had to do a bone graft to reshape the tibial plate, and then install a metal plate with four screws. She was not a happy camper.

Two and a half months later, she is rocking PT and healing wonderfully, much to the excitement of her doctor and physical therapist. Unfortunately, it's at this time that our funds have completely run out, since she doesn't have insurance coverage from her work, though we were able to get set up on Medicaid which did backdate some of the charges. Before then we had to pay $30 each PT visit (twice a week), which then raised to $100 a visit once her work-based insurance ended. It drained pretty much the last of the emergency money we had squared away, intending on using it to coast until I found more frequent or steady work.

Sadly, this is also when all the bills for the emergency room, diagnosis, anesthetic, surgery, and at least one check-up have come due. Thankfully, most of the surgery ended up being covered under her former plan. There is still quite a lot that isn't covered, and on top of that we no longer even have money to cover our utility bills.

We are hoping to hit $5,000, where most of that will cover the medical bills and the remainder will help us recover that emergency fund we would have been able to survive on for the utility bills, gas, and food. Food is no longer an issue - at least for now - as with the Medicaid we also qualified for food stamps, but we have no idea how long we will remain eligible (especially as my industry reopens and expands, allowing me to get more jobs and start supporting us properly again).

In the meantime, literally anything helps, no matter how small. Even just a simple share does more good than you know. Your assistance is greatly appreciated, and Melonie, myself, and our son all thank you from the bottom of our hearts!