If you’re reading this and are new to my story, I’ll give just a bit of a background. In early January of this year, I had to undergo major spinal reconstruction as well as a thorocotomy for a burst fracture of my L1 vertebrae. Things didn’t go as well as we’d hoped, and I am still off of work. To say things have been rough financially is putting it mildly. Not having my income has had quite the negative effect on Gary and I. He had to take some time off work to help me those first several weeks home, and he already works two jobs.

I was healing and doing pretty well and then one night several weeks ago, I got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I ended up tripping and falling HARD in our bathroom and it woke Gary up. I knew I had hurt myself and was worried about my hardware in my back, but I had a pain lower in my hip that was brutal, relentless, and was not at all easing up. So I went to the ER to get everything checked out and turns out I fractured my pelvis on the right side in two different places. I was devastated. As one might expect, this slowed down my recovery and sent me ten steps backwards.

On top of all of that, my FMLA expired at the beginning of April, so my job is no longer legally protected. I am on short term disability but that expires in June and only pays 60 percent of my salary. All of these things combined have led to a stress level that’s unimaginable. My anxiety about keeping my job, paying our bills, and having enough to still scrape by literally keeps me up at night.

I know times are rough for a lot of people right now, and there are families out there suffering much more than us right now. We are so grateful for every bit of help we got from those who donated to our last campaign. If you can help again, every donation helps. Every single penny. And if you can’t help by donating, we completely understand that and prayers are so greatly appreciated. We will take all of the help we can get, whether it be spiritual or financial.

I pray things get better as 2026 goes on and I am cleared to go back to work. The best we can do is pray that everything works out. It’s been a tough year so far, but we can always find silver linings somewhere. If you made it this far, thank you for reading our story and we pray that the rest of your 2026 is blessed.