Land of Confusion 09/13/09
I hate having to write a post like this, but there's been a bit of a question from a number of people of where we got the money for the Disney trip we took last weekend. I can can assure everyone that all the money you donate to Isaiah's fund through Apert International always goes 100% to his medical needs (surgery deposits, travel costs to Dallas, prescriptions, etc.) and his daily necessities (diapers, food, clothing). The money we spent as a family came out of our reserves we had been building for the past year or so.
Ever since we knew that Isaiah was going to have some unknown issues before he was born we thought there would be a good chance that Rachel would need to stay home from work to take care of him we started to cut back on extraneous expenses and save money. When the economy was starting to turn south and my work started laying off people last October we started pinching even more with the supreme possibility of me not having a job in the near future so that we would have some money to fall back on. The layoff did happen, but much later than I thought, and while Rachel experienced some rather severe postpartum depression that essentially forced her to stay home with Isaiah, it did have the effect of allowing her to keep receiving disability payments for longer than we had anticipated as well. All in all since I was only fully unemployed for little less than a month we had some extra money in our reserves which is where the money for the Disney trip came from. We're still saving money with the goal of replacing the Toyota in the next year. We just needed to do something fun for the whole family to celebrate coming through all we have in this last year. Rachel and I have given up most of our entertainment expenses and cut back on many little things here and there so we feel this was rather justified for us to spend out of our personal coffers.
We don't want people to feel like we're misappropriating the help you are giving us and please feel free to call us on it if you ever have a question about it. We are a non-profit of sorts, just not in the whole business sense I guess, so our financial records aren't public access, but we are accountable to all of you that help us. We truly appreciate everyone's help and try to use your money smartly and always 100% on Isaiah's daily needs and medical expenses unless told otherwise.
Ever since we knew that Isaiah was going to have some unknown issues before he was born we thought there would be a good chance that Rachel would need to stay home from work to take care of him we started to cut back on extraneous expenses and save money. When the economy was starting to turn south and my work started laying off people last October we started pinching even more with the supreme possibility of me not having a job in the near future so that we would have some money to fall back on. The layoff did happen, but much later than I thought, and while Rachel experienced some rather severe postpartum depression that essentially forced her to stay home with Isaiah, it did have the effect of allowing her to keep receiving disability payments for longer than we had anticipated as well. All in all since I was only fully unemployed for little less than a month we had some extra money in our reserves which is where the money for the Disney trip came from. We're still saving money with the goal of replacing the Toyota in the next year. We just needed to do something fun for the whole family to celebrate coming through all we have in this last year. Rachel and I have given up most of our entertainment expenses and cut back on many little things here and there so we feel this was rather justified for us to spend out of our personal coffers.
We don't want people to feel like we're misappropriating the help you are giving us and please feel free to call us on it if you ever have a question about it. We are a non-profit of sorts, just not in the whole business sense I guess, so our financial records aren't public access, but we are accountable to all of you that help us. We truly appreciate everyone's help and try to use your money smartly and always 100% on Isaiah's daily needs and medical expenses unless told otherwise.
Comments
It is quite honestly NOBODY's business how your family chooses to use your money. If people donate to help your family because of the extra financial stress of having a child that needs a lot of medical care, they should also understand that the way you choose to utilize that money may in fact include some rest and relaxation time once your immediate financial obligations for medical bills are met (and maybe even in the midst of those obligations).
Every health care professional that we've come in contact with who has treated Aiden has told us the importance of taking time for ourselves and for our family. It is essential to our well being.
I can assure you that we have also been blessed to have friends and family help us out and donate money to help us get through tough times. And further more, we have felt guilty when we use our own money from savings to do something "extra" as a family. We too have felt that we might need to "explain" to people that although we didn't need to do this that or the other, it has been a great thing to have some stress free time.
I'm just here to say "Don't worry about it!" You and your family DESERVED this trip to Disney - and many more to come in the future. If you can get away and take some of the focus off of Isaiah's differences, blow off some steam, smile, have fun, THEN THAT IS JUST AS ESSENTIAL AS THE VERY IMPORTANT MEDICAL TREATMENT THAT HE RECEIVES.
I hate seeing a post like this from you guys. It just gets to me. I hope that you haven't gotten slack from people who truly don't understand.
Sorry for my rant. Take care!