During the week of March 16th, I was not feeling well; I thought I had a sore throat. After testing for strep, COVID, and the Flu, all tests were negative. As the week went on, I was not getting better. I went back to urgent care, and the doctor took an X-ray. She found that I had pneumonia and there was fluid outside of my lung. She told me to go to the Emergency room. I went, and after taking blood and testing, I was admitted to the hospital. Five days later, I had surgery and was discharged from the hospital on April 9th. I then took a leave of absence from my job, and I had them use all of my allowed PTO. Therefore, the rest of my leave was unpaid. I received a paycheck in April but did not receive one in either May or June because my pay was docked for those 2 months. Since I haven't been paid since May, my bills, specifically my rent, have fallen behind and are piling up. The money will go towards catching up with my rent and my other bills and expenses.

Thank you for reading my story.