[Earl]

Ok, so when we moved into this house, 4 years ago, I met my neighbors, which is rare in AZ, normally you don't know anyone, but being in my wheelchair, people would walk up to me, so i got to know some really well. Al is my neighbor across the street. he is a great guy. He is disabled also and on SSDI and is home so we have lots of time to hang out.

Al's wife is Jan, she is also disabled but still works as an office manager for Amica insurance. Her disabilities are two bad hips, (needs transplants but she is very over weight so they can't do it) she has diabetes, and some other things, very sad shape. Al's disabilitys are he has a very bad back , and fibro.

SO, In April Jan went into the hospital for a bedsore, Al told me it was bad but only the other day i learned it was 11 cm. and that's huge for a bed sore. She went from 3 weeks in the hospital to a nursing home and has hoped to get home many times but 3 1/2 months later she is still there. When she went in, she had over 100 days of sick time and vacation banked up. Now- that is gone and she applied for both short term disability and long term but nothing has been approved yet.

In July Al's SSDI sent him a letter saying he was not eligible for it anymore..?? WHAT? so, he is appealing it with the help of his doctors, so they went from about $3900 a month income to ZERO.

Al has told me he is going to start selling things to pay the mortgage. This should be easy as Al is a hoarder. You have seen the shows maybe on Bravo or A+E or something. their house is literally packed to the rafters. when the ambulance came in April to get Jan, they could not get the stretcher in the house. they had to do a three man carry to get her out.

WELL, (again, sorry this is so long) Al has told me he is worried about losing their house. Last week the bank called them and sent them a letter saying they would start foreclosure proceedings in Oct. He was beside himself.

Last Saturday, he got a call from his 94 year old step-mother (who is a total witch) telling him his father (who is 86) fell and broke a hip. They live 75 miles away up north. I drove Al up to See him at the hospital. Al's car is old and would not make the trip. Al told me he would stay a few days and if I could come get him this last Thursday, that would be great. Wed I got a call from Al that his dad had passed away. While in the hospital getting tests for a new hip surgery, they found he had rampant lung cancer and had pneumonia and several other things. So he has passed. I asked Al what I could do to help. Al is an only child so he inherrits everything but the house and car which are his step-mothers.

His dad was also a hoarder. My prayer request is this - feel bad for being so long but I hope you understand- his dad has 3 storage units full of stuff to liquidate. How can two disabled people do this? I have no clue.

The silver lining to all of this (if you can say that in this tough time) is that in Al's dad's safe, he found some gold, to help pay Al's mortgage payments, yeah, gold - TWO POUNDS OF GOLD- WITH CERTIFICATES OF AUTHENTICITY - AL doesn't know how much it is worth, but the stress should be off him for money even though it mounts in so many other areas.

SO, that's it.

* do I win an award for longest post ever*?