I am 32 and I have breast cancer, the worst Stage III you can have without being Stage IV. Earlier this year my mom and I set up a GoFundMe to pay for medical related expenses. Mom has decided that she is going to take $200 for compensation for food, gas, and missed wages because I had some health complications that required me to stay with her for a month. We didn't really talk about this before we set up the account. I owe her $200, which I will pay as soon as I am able to work again, I am on disability right now and starting next month will be paying over 50% of my income for housing so I cannot afford to pay her back right now. She has decided that she is going to take the remaining $350 from the GoFundMe to cover this debt to her and the $150 that she feels I owe her for a hotel room for my brothers wedding, when I will not be staying in the hotel.
*Side note. Last summer, right after my diagnosis, my client, who is her friend, gave her a $300 check to give to me to pay for graphic design services that I provided for him. My mom kept this check and used it to pay for something I was already taking care of. The $200 that I owe her was used to take care of the same thing because she didn't give me the chance to take care of it myself.*
Our GoFundMe states "We are asking for financial support to cover health expenses and transportation funds to help her attend her doctors appointments," While there was one large donation from one of her friends, the rest of the donations were from my friends to support me. They are not to pay any debt to her. She has apparently been keeping track of every hour of work that she has missed to help me and every dollar that she feels has been spent on me for food and gas.
I feel that she is stealing from me.
The last message that I received from her asked me if I wanted her to calculate all of the money she has lost from missed wages and food and gas. Below is my response to her:
"I am not made of money either. I make a whopping $1103 a month. Want me to calculate everything that I have lost? I have lost my breasts, the ability to have children, the ability to work since last July that may be permanent. I Lost my car and the ability to go to school. I’ve lost the life that I had before cancer and will constantly be worried that the cancer is going to come back. I am not staying in the hotel so you do not get the $150. I had planned on starting to pay you next month, but my rent will be increasing to more than 50% of my income so I cannot afford to pay you back until I am working. I don’t have enough money to function. I am living on my credit cards this month because there isn’t enough money. The GoFundMe money is mine. It was donated by MY friends to help ME. That money is supposed to be used for transportation to medical appointments and a weighted blanket to help me with my seizures and age regressions. It is NOT to be used for my debt to you. If you keep this money, you are stealing from me."
My brother will be talking to her over the weekend. He also believes that she is not doing the right thing.
Any suggestions on what I can do if she decides to keep it? Is contacting GoFundMe a possibility? Are there any legal actions that I can take or is it best to let this go? I have $35 to my name right now, so $350 is a lot of money for me.
She set up the GoFundMe because when you set it up yourself, you are not as likely to get donations. Otherwise, I would have set up a GoFundMe during the beginning of my cancer treatment.
Written By: Feisty_Zebra
Source: http://bit.ly/2PjDqBI
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