Heidi Benz
September 28th, 2007
My name is Heidi, and I live in northwest Mississippi. I have been disabled for 10 years now. My disability started with a car crash back in 1997. My car was hit head on by a speeding dump truck that did not have any brakes. Due to that accident, I under went three back surgeries, as well as surgery on both shoulders and both knees. During the treatment for my injuries, one of my doctors ran a bunch of blood tests and found out that I had Lupus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that causes swelling and pain in my body. The pain I experience from Lupus is in addition to the pain I already encountered because I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, as well as arthritis caused by my injuries. Then about six years ago I was told that I have Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. Struggling with all these issues was difficult enough, and while seeing a psychiatrist for depression, he had me take this test that showed him I am Bipolar. At the time of all these diagnoses, Mike, my husband, had a good job with wonderful medical insurance. Well, three years ago Mike had to stop working because of a disability he now suffers from. Now here I am with no insurance to help pay for my medication that would have cost me about $1,500 a month.
Thankfully I’ve found help through various patient assistance programs (and I would encourage anyone reading this to check out these numerous programs).
Most of all, I’ve realized that although I thought I was just one of those people who falls between the cracks—someone who doesn’t make enough money to treat their illnesses on their own, yet who cannot qualify for a sufficient amount of government aid. However I learned that there’s still hope for a happy future.Before this all happened, I was a licensed nurse, and as soon as I got one sickness after another, I became a person who couldn’t move. Now that I have my medicine to treat both my physical ailments and my depression, I’ve been able to keep my mind going. I’ve always said, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” By keeping my mind and my heart alive, I can get through anything. And with the help of medicine, nothing is too hard anymore. Every day I go on, it just gets easier.
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