Please help
We were healthy people living a fairly normal life until this February when I was driving Aus to work and we were stopped at a light and someone rear-ended us at full speed. We weren't even moving. You just never know when something like this is going to happen to you and it changes everything.
So now here we are, trying not to starve to death in America.
Aus's disability ran out September first. We have no more savings, we've cashed in all our stocks - all our money has dwindled down to nothing because we haven't been able to work since the accident in February. Aus's job still considers him employed but on medical leave' - but they won't take him back until he's made maximum medical recovery - which he hasn't, and which the doctors won't sign off on (he needs a doctor signing that to go back). Furthermore, the likelihood that he'll ever be able to lift heavy things again is next to none- so they'd have to provide him with a different job. Which they likely won't. The insurance company is supposed to have been providing supplemental income all along - 125 bucks a week, which isn't much, but it's something. We haven't had any luck getting them to actually pay that, but we've got a lawyer's appointment on Wednesday and we're going to try and get him to get them to do that. We might be able to get some sort of public assistance- but I don't know how or where to apply for that, and I know that it needs more things we don't have (birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, etc. Getting most of that costs money- which we don't have). If Aus's work lets him go in a specific manner (still trying to figure out how this one would work) - he might be able to collect unemployment. Maybe. But we don't know how to do that, either, or under what circumstances exactly he'd have to be let go. Aus could try to get another job... but the fact that he still has migraines on a constant basis, weakness and continual pain in the neck and back, and confusion and memory lapses makes that very unlikely. We could try to get social security (he's worked enough to be eligible) - but that takes 3-5 months at the very least and is supposedly very hard to get. We'd be dead of starvation by then. Oh, and let's not forget I have no legal drivers license now because the DMV thinks I was 'driving while suspended' because the f'n ticket that I've paid twice already (it was for failure to stop in 1994) won't leave their system. They want to charge me an additional 100 dollars 'restoration fee' , and whatever else they think I should pay.
Quite frankly, we're at our wits end- in constant pain and misery, no hopes or prospects for the future, no money left to survive on. We can start selling our possessions off on Ebay again, but I'm not sure there's all that much we have left that people would buy. Maybe one of the computers would feed us for a while, but then we'd be even more depressed and isolated. I should probably sell my Rilo Kiley stuff because I know there's a market for it, but again that's one of the few things I have left that brings me any happiness in my pathetic life. Sometimes ( a lot more lately) I wish the accident would have just finished me off so that I don't have to live like this, and continue on into this constant downward spiral. I really don't know what else there is left to do. I have three kids (ages 14, 14, and 13) to feed, clothe, and take care of in addition to myself and Aus.
So we need some help. I really hate asking for things, but I'm to the point where I don't have any pride or hope left, so hey what else is there to lose. In specific, this is what we need:
- Some fairly reliable source of income (a job we can reasonably do even in our very bad health, public assistance, social security, anything really...), If you know how to apply for anything, have something we could reasonably do and get paid for, etc. - please let us know. Aus's skills lie in the area of computers - he does websites, programming, etc. Writing's pretty much all I know how to do, sorry. But we'll do anything we reasonably can. Bear in mind that right now, it's difficult just to walk/sit/stand - so it would have to be something... well, super easy, or that could be done from home. But you never know, there might be something out there.
- Someone in our area willing to come with us/help drive us to some of these places we need to go. Part of the problem is that we have very poor comprehension skills right now, and it's difficult to keep track of / understand the logical steps of what needs to be accomplished. Also, I have a pretty bad phobia of driving places I don't know how to get to. Sucks, I know.
-- Anyone who wants to buy anything we own at a reasonable price so that we can eat/get gas/acquire records/pay rent. We have books, games, movies, CDs,rpg rule books, etc. etc. We're likely going to be putting some on Ebay, but if you want to just buy a whole bunch of them for one price, let us know. We're trying to avoid having to sell the computers, tvs, and other high end things- but hey, if we get desperate enough, I guess those are next...
-- Any resources we can check out- links, phone numbers or whatever- to places that might help us.
-- Any moral support - hugs, visits, phone calls, cards. I'm in really bad need of feeling less suicidal and more like there's some distant glimmer of hope.
-- Any donations. Right now our greatest needs are food , medication, gas, and rent. Okay, they're pretty much always our greatest needs. We need some kind of fund raiser, or something. Even if you can share a dollar, it's a dollar more than we had a minute ago.
I can't keep pretending everything is okay - we're scared, we're hurting, we're in trouble and we need help.
Thank you for anything you can do - and please pass the word around to anyone else you know who may be able to help us find some income-type-work.
Our information is as follows:
Laura and Aus Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141
Paypal:
So now here we are, trying not to starve to death in America.
Aus's disability ran out September first. We have no more savings, we've cashed in all our stocks - all our money has dwindled down to nothing because we haven't been able to work since the accident in February. Aus's job still considers him employed but on medical leave' - but they won't take him back until he's made maximum medical recovery - which he hasn't, and which the doctors won't sign off on (he needs a doctor signing that to go back). Furthermore, the likelihood that he'll ever be able to lift heavy things again is next to none- so they'd have to provide him with a different job. Which they likely won't. The insurance company is supposed to have been providing supplemental income all along - 125 bucks a week, which isn't much, but it's something. We haven't had any luck getting them to actually pay that, but we've got a lawyer's appointment on Wednesday and we're going to try and get him to get them to do that. We might be able to get some sort of public assistance- but I don't know how or where to apply for that, and I know that it needs more things we don't have (birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, etc. Getting most of that costs money- which we don't have). If Aus's work lets him go in a specific manner (still trying to figure out how this one would work) - he might be able to collect unemployment. Maybe. But we don't know how to do that, either, or under what circumstances exactly he'd have to be let go. Aus could try to get another job... but the fact that he still has migraines on a constant basis, weakness and continual pain in the neck and back, and confusion and memory lapses makes that very unlikely. We could try to get social security (he's worked enough to be eligible) - but that takes 3-5 months at the very least and is supposedly very hard to get. We'd be dead of starvation by then. Oh, and let's not forget I have no legal drivers license now because the DMV thinks I was 'driving while suspended' because the f'n ticket that I've paid twice already (it was for failure to stop in 1994) won't leave their system. They want to charge me an additional 100 dollars 'restoration fee' , and whatever else they think I should pay.
Quite frankly, we're at our wits end- in constant pain and misery, no hopes or prospects for the future, no money left to survive on. We can start selling our possessions off on Ebay again, but I'm not sure there's all that much we have left that people would buy. Maybe one of the computers would feed us for a while, but then we'd be even more depressed and isolated. I should probably sell my Rilo Kiley stuff because I know there's a market for it, but again that's one of the few things I have left that brings me any happiness in my pathetic life. Sometimes ( a lot more lately) I wish the accident would have just finished me off so that I don't have to live like this, and continue on into this constant downward spiral. I really don't know what else there is left to do. I have three kids (ages 14, 14, and 13) to feed, clothe, and take care of in addition to myself and Aus.
So we need some help. I really hate asking for things, but I'm to the point where I don't have any pride or hope left, so hey what else is there to lose. In specific, this is what we need:
- Some fairly reliable source of income (a job we can reasonably do even in our very bad health, public assistance, social security, anything really...), If you know how to apply for anything, have something we could reasonably do and get paid for, etc. - please let us know. Aus's skills lie in the area of computers - he does websites, programming, etc. Writing's pretty much all I know how to do, sorry. But we'll do anything we reasonably can. Bear in mind that right now, it's difficult just to walk/sit/stand - so it would have to be something... well, super easy, or that could be done from home. But you never know, there might be something out there.
- Someone in our area willing to come with us/help drive us to some of these places we need to go. Part of the problem is that we have very poor comprehension skills right now, and it's difficult to keep track of / understand the logical steps of what needs to be accomplished. Also, I have a pretty bad phobia of driving places I don't know how to get to. Sucks, I know.
-- Anyone who wants to buy anything we own at a reasonable price so that we can eat/get gas/acquire records/pay rent. We have books, games, movies, CDs,rpg rule books, etc. etc. We're likely going to be putting some on Ebay, but if you want to just buy a whole bunch of them for one price, let us know. We're trying to avoid having to sell the computers, tvs, and other high end things- but hey, if we get desperate enough, I guess those are next...
-- Any resources we can check out- links, phone numbers or whatever- to places that might help us.
-- Any moral support - hugs, visits, phone calls, cards. I'm in really bad need of feeling less suicidal and more like there's some distant glimmer of hope.
-- Any donations. Right now our greatest needs are food , medication, gas, and rent. Okay, they're pretty much always our greatest needs. We need some kind of fund raiser, or something. Even if you can share a dollar, it's a dollar more than we had a minute ago.
I can't keep pretending everything is okay - we're scared, we're hurting, we're in trouble and we need help.
Thank you for anything you can do - and please pass the word around to anyone else you know who may be able to help us find some income-type-work.
Our information is as follows:
Laura and Aus Cushing
po box 141
Newtonville, NJ 08346-0141
Paypal: