Lately, I've been beset by a number of challenges. In no particular order, here's a brief description of what's happened to me in the past couple of years:

Three years back, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. I received courses of radiation and chemotherapy (both were pretty awful), and the cancer was apparently driven into submission; although I'm now overdue for follow-up scans.

Following the cancer, I was involved in a car accident on the Baltimore Beltway (I-695), where I was hit from behind while stopped in traffic. This damaged my sciatic nerve which caused a lot of pain and put me into physical therapy for about five months. The pain and crippling effects greatly curtailed the operation of my business (real estate appraisal), severely cutting into my income.

The next nail in my coffin, so to speak, was the increase in interest rates over the past year or so, which pretty much killed what was left of my business due to rising mortgage rates. Mortgages and refinances were my bread and butter, and home appraisal assignments pretty much dried up. I had to shut the business down because any profits were eaten up by ongoing business expenses. This had several negative effects, chief among them having to live entirely on my Social Security payments as well as SNAP (food stamps). That is not sufficient to pay my expenses and service my debts, so I began taking in some computer work, but it's been a long, tough slog and isn't yet paying me what I need. Every month is touch and go, with only glimmers of a permanent solution so far.

As if all this wasn't enough, I've rented a Catonsville townhouse for over ten years, and now my landlady wants to sell it, so I have to move out very soon; something which I'm unable to afford to do at the moment. I've been unable to afford rent since the summer, which hasn't helped at all, so I'm looking to downsize to a less expensive house rental or apartment. Even the cost to do that is unaffordable at the moment.

So, now I find myself here begging for help to stop circling the drain and get my life back on the right path. I've used up my reserves and look forward to returning to solvency; and any assistance will be greatly appreciated.