I grew up poor, still am
I grew up being taught to do stuff yourself. do not depend on anyone, you can't depend on anyone, never ask for help.
maybe not those exact words, but that's what everything chalked up to.
because of that I try to do everything on my own, try to fix anything by myself.
but I'm at that point where I just can't.

as you all know, March 15th 2025 I ended up going to the ER for an emergency surgery to remove my Appendix. They said it was essentially life or death and it had to be removed or I'd risk losing my life.
This unfortunately added up to become several bills totaling up to $24,000

and as you all know, I do art full time. I have had several jobs in the past and was met with constant unjust work conditions from abuse of scheduling circumstances (they would knowingly schedule me so that I'd be working 10 days in a row) , or just plain verbal abuse.
because of that I jumped into doing Art full time
this has been both a blessing and a curse
Being able to do what I love all the time has been amazing
I even get to decide to take a day off when i need to
I don't get verbally or emotionally abused by employers/supervisors.

but every good thing has a downside
I have to pay for my own health insurance.
I make barely too much for free health insurance.
health insurance is expensive.

as such I have to pay that $24,000 bill out of pocket.
I am on a payment plan but it has caused me tremendously insane.
I can't get financial assistance from them because I make too much for financial assistance/forgiveness
and debt collectors keep calling me to collect despite being on a payment plan

this debt has caused me stress, depression and even pushed me to questioning my own self worth, if it was even worth going through with choosing life over risking the worst.
but this has been causing me tremendous stress.
to the point where I'm not joking when I say I'm losing my hair over this.
I won't get any where saving with this medical debt looming over me, weighing down on me.
I've even had to make a moderately large payment.
it's down to about $18,000 now

again, I don't like asking for help. I don't like relying on anyone
at this point any help is welcome, any assistance.
I don't have a go-fund me set up for this
but I'll leave my Ko-fi here at the least
https://ko-fi.com/benjisart
or even cashapp, or any other way

unfortunately can't do paypal anymore cause even they decided to fuck my life over.

I'm at my limit and just don't know what to do anymore.

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aside from that I have my Subscribestar, Patreon, and I stream Monday-Friday, and I'm trying to catch up with Owed Commissions so I haven't been taking in stream comms lately
but any kind of support will be going towards that medical debt directly.