Original Story written when I started my GoFundMe for help paying bills.

Before anything. I am taking this very seriously, any donations to this GoFundMe will be detailed out where the money is going and for what. It will strictly be for bills. I will do everything in my power to make sure any money donated is not misused from its original purpose and be as transparent as possible with donators.

My name is Nicholas J. Kunc. I am 34 turning 35 this December. And I live in Mcpherson, KS. I'm very introverted guy with many mental and physical health issues. I have had Sleep Paralysis since I was a kid. I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder in my mid 20's.

This has led to a steady decline since then in my mental and physical health. This culminated into a eventual attempt on my own life sometime in 2019 that I survived luckily and was treated. I no longer have those thoughts anymore though. I have nerve damage in my left shoulder from an unknown cause, IBS, and chronic gastritis. I've struggled with chronic fatigue since my early 20's as well. I also frequently have Kidney Stone issues which usually send me to the ER. I was once an alcoholic, but have been sober for 4 years now. However my mental health was still deteriorating. Leading to a mental health crises last November 2022 that caused me to be so bad I couldn't work.

Future tests have added to my laundry list of mental health issues to Major Depressive Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder with a social anxiety component. Panic Disorder, possible adult ADHD (soon to get tested), possible Semantic Symptom Disorder and some type of sleep disorder that I have not had to time to get properly tested, although I was seeing a sleep doctor, its just the treatment he gave was not working. To sum up my sleep disorder, I basically cannot sleep during the day and sometimes alarms (even those shock watch ones) will not wake me up.

I lost my insurance before I could get a sleep study to see what is wrong with my sleep. I am still waiting to be tested officially for chronic fatigue syndrome, but it is hard because of the mental health issues may be causing my fatigue. I also chew tobacco (which I intend to quit as soon as possible, as it is effecting my medications.)

I used to work as an equipment operator and laborer for KDOT District 2 Mcpherson Subarea. It's a job I know how to do very well and I have worked as one for 6 years now. However staff shortages in the shops have been on the decline for decades now. Until I found myself with just me and my boss managing one subarea that contains. over 100 miles of 4 lane interstate, a 4 lane highway and 2 lane highway. I had been put on probation and written up many times for tardiness, due to the above sleep disorder. I was surprised when my boss suddenly transferred around early October. Leaving me to be alone at my subarea shop. But due to my dwindling mental health, and stress piling up at work, probation for tardiness from a sleep disorder I can't control, and financial issues one day I just went into mental crises.

My job remained intact due to FMLA, but after that I was on medical leave, I believe. However, although I was employed, I had no paycheck and no insurance until I was able to return to work. I was treated for and went to partial hospitalization for my mental crises and was due back to return in 3-11-23. However work would not let me return without filling out accommodation papers. Which all were denied each taking over a month or longer to be reviewed.

Although my mental health is better now and I am hoping to improve with either a diagnosis for ADHD or do electro-shock therapy as meds are barely working for my various mental disorders. And is still in an ongoing struggle.

For these past 9 months, my family has been managing to barely keep me afloat, but they are not rich and can only help me so much. It also tears me up inside having to rely on them without giving much in return.

As of now, I am 3 months behind on rent, gas is shut off, electric is past due and internet is pass due and my property taxes were twice as high as last year.

In July 11, 2023 while I was still waiting for my accommodation papers with my job to be reviewed. I suffered some kind of ailment in my urinary trac system. Doctors do not know what caused it, but I have chronic kidney stones so it maybe that. Anyway on that day I had to go into the ER for extreme flank and abdominal pain was misdiagnosed at that time. Shortly after that, I began having extreme crippling pain and urgency (sort of like a UTI but without the burning and 100x worse.) Since I was on no insurance I attempted to self treat, but pain got so bad I went to the ER again 7-25-23 (no insurance). Was told I had a UTI and sent home with antibiotics. Except days later, cultures showed no UTI. I spent 3 weeks in this crippling pain, went to urgent care who did nothing for my pain. Finally was able to see my family doctor and get pain meds to help. This was on August 25, 2023. My health was very bad, I normally weight 128LBs and 5 foot 8 inches tall. I had lost 20LBs, and pain had made me physically and mentally weak. My doctor agreed to give me pain meds so I can get back to work and get back on insurance because they want to do a battery of tests on me which I simply cannot afford without insurance. However he really did not want me to return to work due to my condition, but I had to try.

However my return to work on 8-28-23 revealed that I cannot perform my job duties safely for myself and others, my physical weakness, chest pains, shoulder pains, and all around random pains along with dizziness, electric shock sensations, and labored breathing even on normal tasks. I am afraid I will have to quit my job with KDOT, as my health would make it dangerous for me and everyone else. They wont work with me on accommodations as they always get denied. I made decent wage at 19.61 an hour with decent benefits, it is a job I didnt want to lose. But I had to resign on 8-30-23 for good cause, as I could no longer safely for others and myself perform my job duties. As well it was bad enough that recovery may take awhile.

I would like to note, that from November 2022 to August 28,2023 I have applied for no benefits although I could get food stamps but that was basically it. I sold some of my more expensive stuff I had on eBay to help pay bills as well. My panic and social anxiety makes it hard for me to ask for help, speak on the phone and in person. So I never reached out for help. I have pretty low self esteem and worry a lot about everything.

My future plan is to hopefully get a job I can work at home, since I am good with IT and computers. If I could I would love to build custom computers and fix them for a living if had the opportunity. But it will most likely take time. I am unsure if my employer will grant me unemployment benefits either.

Your donation will help me significantly by giving me more time and peace of mind to sort out what I will do from here on out. All money donated to me will go towards my bills. My first priority is to get caught up on bills along with paying for doctor visits while I am uninsured. In the likely chance I will have to quit my current job I will look towards getting healthcare on the free market while I search for a suitable job for myself.

I wanted to be as transparent as possible with myself and with any proceeds if the GoFundMe succeeds. Although I am unsure if my goal will be reached as I am basically a nobody. All I have are my immediate family, I do not have friends or a girlfriend/wife with no children. I have an incredibly hard time asking anybody for anything, so doing this is very nerve racking, but I have to try.

If anyone out there feels gracious enough to donate any amount no matter how small it would be greatly appreciated. If the GoFundMe succeeds and goes over the desired amount. I will only use what is needed for my bills and nothing else. If I get way over my amount then whatever I do not need I will donate to a charity. $500 is my initial goal, I cant see me using anymore than $2000 or so for bills to get me caught up and extra for future bills. So if and it gets to that point, any more above that will go to a charity. I do not have one figured out, but I would like to support cancer research or child cancer research. My intent with this fundraiser is to help with my short term overdue bills and to give me time and take some pressure off of my parents and brother who have helped me through this year a lot financially.

Please accept my sincere thanks for any donation you make. I cannot express how grateful I will be for any amount you give.

Here are my utility bills broken down in how much I owe in past due and how much the utility costs for every month (average with future utility cost)

Gas: $680 ($550 of which is past due and usually around $50 during summer and $150 to $200 during the winter)

Electric $390 (Summer heat, normally 150-250 a month)

Lot Rent $1150 ($400 per month for my lot)

Internet $170 ($160-$170 a month)

Insurance $60 (past due 60)

Credit Card Payment ($60, although I do not plan to use the donation money to pay anything on my credit card, I just wanted people to know that I do have credit card debt, it is not bad, but not great either. I am in about $2500 in credit card debt partially due to my medical leave and using it to pay bills at the beginning.

I am in pretty severe medical debt. Although I do not expect to utilize donation money for it, as it is at least 10K or more due to uninsured ER visits and Urgent Care visits.

My main goal now is to keep my house and utilities on so I can find a job that I can physically handle, which will most likely be either in IT Entry Level or Data Entry work at home or someplace that is not as physically taxing. This is it, my life laid bare. I am not ashamed of my condition, the only shame I have with myself is not being able to help my family, that have done so much for me and has helped me through a lot. Without them I would never had made it this far. I also have future appointments with my doctor to determine my physical ability and/or recovery time to determine what I will do in the future

Again I cannot express enough to anyone who helps me raise this money. I know it is a long shot, but I had to at least try due to my circumstances. Sorry if some of this seems like rambling, I am not very good at summarizing and have OCD about being extremely detailed in a weird way. I want people to know exactly who I am and why I am doing this.

Thank You again for any who donates and one day I will do the same in the future to help others in similar situations as mine once I get back on my feet. Thank you for to anybody that read my story.

(For anyone who is wondering why I did not sign up for short-term disability is that it is not available for my insurance when I had it. And I did not do Long-Term Disability as I believed I would be back much much earlier.)