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Sidelined by Covid without income, tonyahky needs our help [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-08-12
Our friend, tonyahky, is a nurse in red, red Kentucky. Angela Marx and I are trying to raise $2000 to replace lost income while she recovers from Covid.
Progress report: $1370 raised, $630 to go!
PayPal address for tonyahky is tonyahky AT gmx DOT com Thank you for your help
On August 9th, tonyahky wrote this story:
In that story, Tonya tells us how, living in a Red State, she struggles working one full-time and two part time jobs. The extra jobs became necessary because, as is unfortunately all too common these days, she has some staggering medical debt. She also has two children to provide for, one of whom is autistic and has special needs.
From her story:
What’s worse is that I am going to have to stay off work from my healthcare job until August 21st—since I am immunocompromised due to taking medications for lupus, my medical job requires that I quarantine for 20 days. This is because a person whose immune system is weak can sometimes take longer to fight off the virus, and therefore they shed the virus for a longer period of time. My other two employers told me I can’t come back till I have a negative COVID test. Even though I am now on day 11, I still tested positive this morning—and I’m still symptomatic with a stuffy nose. (Thankfully, the sore throat is gone.) Then there are the other two jobs. I don’t have any kind of sick leave or paid time off at those jobs. I guess I just hope I am still employed when I can finally go back to work. I’m not sure I qualify for FMLA since I have not been at my current healthcare position within the company for a year. I am part-time at the other two positions in any case. Hopefully, I will be able to withdraw some money from my tiny 401k in order to make up for the shortfall. My oldest daughter is sick too—I gave her my box of Paxlovid since she does not have insurance and I think she is sicker than I am. Thankfully, my daughter with severe autism has not had any symptoms yet—hopefully she will avoid getting sick.
When Angela Marx read her story and asked tonyahky if she could use some help, and you can see she was reluctant to accept that:
Tonyahky has been working one full time and two part time jobs (one of which is 16 hours a week), to chip away at her existing medical debt AND try to keep a roof over their heads and provide for her family — and she has Lupus. Here is The Mayo Clinic & Johns Hopkins on Lupus for those who don’t know anything about it. It is a horrible, horrible autoimmune condition. And I can tell you from personal experience, stress is not good for autoimmune sufferers.
Today, tonyahky is 52. Can you imagine being that age, with a chronic disease like Lupus, working three jobs, caring for an autistic child and, if you are lucky, getting four hours of sleep each night?
We can help tonyahky and relieve some of that stress by replacing her lost income from her bout with COVID this month. We are asking for twice what tonyahky says she thinks she’ll lose, just to be sure she isn’t caught short, and so that she doesn’t have to use up her PTO or try to access her 401K (which is likely not going to be possible in the time frame necessary).
In October, Angela Marx is planning a bigger fundraiser to help try and retire that medical debt. This will allow tonyahky to work a single job instead of three — and to start to get a full night’s sleep.
No one should have to work themself into an early grave just because of illness — certainly not someone as sweet and kind as tonyahky.
Please help if you can.
PayPal address for tonyahky is tonyahky AT gmx DOT com Thank you for your help
Namaste.
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