Introduction

We hear the recession is over but, I disagree. My husband's unemployment just ran out and we are struggling to survive. My husband is known as a 99er. 99ers are people who have used all their unemployment and extensions do not apply to them. The government is doing nothing to help and is basically ignoring this group who grows larger by the day. The news doesn't report on this group. The 99ers are being cast aside by their own government. You know the government that is supposed to be for the people. There are millions of 99ers out there who do not have money to pay their bills or buy necessities. They are losing their homes and living on the streets, or if lucky in their cars. The holidays are coming and businesses count on making profit then to be in the black. I am curious to see what happens when millions of 99ers aren't able to shop for the holidays. How will that effect the economy?  I believe it will be a very long time before the economy recovers, if it ever does. It is now a different world and I am terrified of what the future holds for my little boy.

What put my family in this position? My husband changed careers, he now drove a big rig. The economy started going downhill. The company he worked for worked their employees to death. I mean make them drive as many hours as the law allows and change their shifts constantly. Employees are afraid for their jobs so, they won't or can't stand up for themselves. It was July 2008, my husband had worked late the night before and now was working a day shift. They put him in a truck with no air conditioning. When I picked him up that night, he started acting strange....like he didn't understand things being said to him. We got home and he yelled at our son, which was unusual. Then he said he had a headache. I sent him to bed and about an hour later he had a Grand Mal seizure. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, he had another one and quit breathing. He ended up being put into a coma and on life support. His kidneys shut down. He was there for a week being treated for dehydration and for his kidneys. The day he came home, he told his employer he had a seizure. They fired him and cancelled our health insurance. They back dated it to the day before his last day so, the insurance refused to pay the hospital bills. Every agency I called, said this was legal as long as they offered COBRA.
Unfortunately, this happened right before the time period where the government would help pay the COBRA premiums. It took a good year to get my husband on the right medicine that would control his seizures without him having a personality change (terrible rages). He received unemployment but, food stamps would only give us $79.00/month for a family of three. It was hard to pay the bills and feed and clothe our son. We did it. I used coupons religiously and shopped the sales. Clothing came from the thrift store or Goodwill. We went to food pantries and for a while used a free clinic. My parents helped us as much as they could. In fact, they are still trying to help but, they are now hurting too.
My husband is doing extremely well now. He became a client of vocational rehabilitation and trained for a career in phlebotomy. He still needs to become certified but, we are working on that. He has done his clinical hours. Everyone hears the medical field is where the jobs are. I did a search last night for phlebotomy jobs on 5 different job search sites. I only found 3 positions any where near us. Two want 2 years experience, and the other is part-time. I wonder if our situation will ever improve? He hasn't had a seizure since, but the discrimination is everywhere he goes. If he tells the interviewer he has been diagnosed with epilepsy, he doesn't get a call back. One interviewer told him he was perfect for one job ( not phlebotomy) but, my husband told him and that was the end of that. I hope the phlebotomy field has more positions soon and that someone will give him a chance.

This blog will be about survival. It will include tips and resources to help you. People need to help each other because the government doesn't care. It is wrong to not extend unemployment for the millions that have used all their benefits, when there has not been enough jobs created for even half of them. Welcome to the new face of poverty. It's not the lady on the street collecting cans in her shopping buggy. It is your neighbor, your friends, your family and possibly you. It is my hope that this blog will be a resource for anyone who needs help.