Dear friends,
- During the pandemic, while working as an essential worker I suffered an adverse reaction to the COVID vaccine that damaged my kidneys, my autonomic nervous system and destroyed my life over night. I developed an autoimmune kidney disease (FSGS) and dysautonomia. I am now in the final stage of kidney disease. Even though I’m on the kidney transplant list, I will die before I receive kidney.
- As someone who has always lived paycheck to paycheck, I wasn’t prepared for the severe financial devastation my health crisis would cause. Without a support system, no financial compensation for vaccine injury victims, and unable to qualify for disability, I have relied on solely my ongoing crowdfunding campaign as a critical lifeline to survive this crisis which has been a never ending nightmare that has dragged on the last several years. I am so fortunate that I’ve had the support of friends, the community and incredibly kind strangers to help me survive my health crisis & shield me from as much harm as possible. I decided it was best to refocus my Spotfund specifically to raise funds for safe, permanent, and stable housing.
- I have been fighting a terminal illness without stable housing for three years. I want to spend my remaining chapter safe, secure, and free from harm. Renting my own apartment is the only way I can reliably protect my immune system, preserve access to care, and finally live without fear of further harm. Safe housing is a medical necessity I have been going without for the majority of my health crisis. My hope is with your support I can secure safe, stable, disability accessible and immunocompromised safe housing close to the hospital.
- Renting my own apartment is both a medical necessity and a desperately needed to leave an unsafe temporary living arrangement that has become life threatening. When I became unhoused last year, an incredibly kind friend opened his home to Puma and me, offering a place to stay while I tried to raise the funds needed for permanent housing. At the time, this felt like a lifeline, an unexpected mercy from an amazing person when I had run out of options. What I did not realize then was that my friend is a victim of an abusive and controlling relationship with someone who has a long pattern of unstable and harmful behavior. As I experienced firsthand, my friend’s partner is an unprovoked threat to others’ physical safety. The painful reality is that when someone has lost autonomy within an abusive, controlling relationship, they are no longer in a position to offer support to others.Whatever care is extended is eventually overtaken by the abuse surrounding them and any gesture of kind support is often hijacked by the harmful dynamic. In my case, my friend’s invitation extended with genuine compassion, ultimately placed me, a terminally ill and deeply vulnerable person with no support system, directly in harm’s way by stepping into the abuse that governed his life. What was meant to be a safe haven to rebuild my life became a site of harm and, given my fragile health, an incredibly dangerous situation. The intersection of abuse and terminal illness is a social injustice I had never fully understood until I became the target of my friend’s partner’s violent and harmful behavior. The impact on my health was catastrophic, causing my kidney function to drop a staggering ten points to just 11%. You can read more about my journey with terminal illness, housing instability, and surviving harm on my Substack linked below.
- As a severely immunocompromised person in end stage kidney disease and on the kidney transplant list, safe housing is not simply about having a roof overhead. It means clean air, sanitary spaces, and living in an immunocompromised safe, disability accessible environment. Every shared space increases my risk of infection. Living in close quarters with others has repeatedly led to prolonged infections. I can’t live with roommates where other people’s choices determine whether I stay stable or end up hospitalized.
- Living as close as possible to the hospital removes physical and financial barriers to medical care. Since my kidney function is critically low, far distance from the hospital is not an inconvenience. It is a risk.
- Housing in the city is required for geographic eligibility for the medical and social support programs I depend on as a terminally ill, disabled, immunocompromised individual without an income or support system. A physical address is also needed to apply for disability benefits Without a qualifying address, I lose access to critical resources.
- Living in the city reduces the financial toll of what is often called the “disability tax.” Transportation, food access, medical coordination, and basic survival already cost significantly more when you are disabled. Living further away in inaccessible areas multiplies those costs.
- After enduring the horrible brutal realities of housing instability that have been catastrophic for my health, the only way I can protect my fragile health from harm and keep Puma and I safe is living alone.
- Healing isn’t possible without a home. My hope for this phase of my fundraiser is to raise enough funds to rent my own apartment; a an immunocompromised safe, disability accessible home close to my medical providers, and accessible the resources and services I depend on a disabled chronically ill individual to survive; Your support is crucial in helping me achieve these goals. Your generosity will provide the stability I need to spend my final chapter of life safe and free from harm. Every donation, no matter the size, will help me take another step towards ending this nightmare of simultaneously battling housing instability and a health crisis. My heartfelt thanks for your compassion and unwavering support throughout my health crisis.
- There will be no funeral, memorial or celebration of my life when I die. If you’d like to honor my spirit, please help me spend my final moments somewhere safe.
Much love and gratitude, Chenoa
You can read my health story here: https://react19.org/testimonials/injury-stories/vaccine-injury-of-chenoa-elizabeth?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAdGRleAQQy5hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAadAa-_VkLVzhQRgml0v8HWCU5WAIBAOxB0lc4Qm0DCA8bbTMgBT8qtchcxNnw_aem_fov-Y56gXFWfkV2lVDgi-g
You can read about read my substack about my journey of surviving illness, housing instability and harm here: https://open.substack.com/pub/chenoaelizabeth/p/surviving-illness-instability-and?r=1lp35v&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
You can read more about my diagnosis and the unique barriers the vaccine injured face :
https://linktr.ee/chenoaelizabeth
