No one likes to be in a position to beg. But that's what this is.

Last August I got some peonies to plant in my mom's yard. The location I chose was across the yard from her kitchen window, but in shade from a tree. I got up on a ladder and was trimming branches when the ladder collapsed and dumped me on the ground, breaking my arm.

I unfortunately didn't realize that the garden dirt was too soft to support the ladder and one leg sank in- too suddenly for me to react. That was August 27, 2019.

A month after my accident, my Orthopedic doctor said I could start physical therapy. On my next visit a month later he said I needed surgery because, instead of healing, the fracture had opened more. Surgery was Nov 6.

I had been barely supporting myself with home repair jobs and one decent PT job. Now I can not work. My surgeon says it will be 5 or 6 months before I can go back to the kind of work I was doing. Today, Friday after Thanksgiving, my landlord served me with eviction papers.

I am desperately in need of immediate economic assistance. In addition to being 2 months behind on my rent I now have a stack of medical bills. Insurance has already paid a good part of those, but I still owe about $20,000. My rent is $1200/mo.

I am ineligible for Social Security disability because I am already full vested and do not qualify for anything more. My current SS and pension is barely enough to pay my typical monthly bills; food, utilities, car insurance and gas and so forth.

I won't go into all the problems my family has that make it impossible for them to help pay my bills. I am therefore hoping to get charitable contributions amounting to $30,000 to keep me from being divorced and homeless. My wife works an average 50 hours per week and spends an additional 5 hours per day on public transportation because I can't drive right now. She is unable to help any more because of student loans. We have exhausted all our own resources to pay rent under threat of eviction. As of Dec 1 we are overdrawn on all our checking accounts and emptied our savings.

I am a lifelong Chicago area resident. I am willing to arrange to work off donations with anyone who lives nearby and needs painting, plumbing, electrical, carpentry and other services. Let me know. But please understand that I will be unable to do much until April, 2020.