My story of how I have gotten to where I am today is a very long one. My life took a turn for the worst when I finally decided to end a very abusive marriage and was finally able to get a divorce in February 2002. I was considered a displaced homemaker because I was a stay at home mom raising my two beautiful children and had very little experience in the work force. At this point, I knew I had to get out there and get a good paying job to support me and my 2 children. I had a high school diploma and a college degree in Business Management so I began applying for many jobs that were in the field that I had studied. I tried to no avail but was unsuccessful because while I may have had the education; I didn’t have the experience that the employers wanted and needed. After many months of constant disappointment, I finally found a program that agreed to help me. It required me having to choose another field to earn a certificate so I can get into the work force much quicker. I had to pick a field from their list and I choose to be a Pharmacy Technician and they guaranteed me placement in a job at the end of the course. They did keep there word and did place me in a job but unfortunately it required me to travel almost an hour away and work 10 hour days, 4 days a week for only $8.50/hr. with no health or dental benefits until after my probation period of 90 days. It wasn’t much and I knew my kids and I would not have any benefits for awhile but I took it because I needed the job. I did this for about 2 months until my car broke down on the highway on my way to work one morning. I found out it was going to cost me about 500.00 to fix whatever was wrong with it but I just didn’t have the money to do that and had no other choice but to leave my job. I went right back to square one with no job and hardly any income except for the little bit of child support for the kids that I was receiving and now without a functional car. I had no other choice but to leave my car to sit in my parking lot for awhile until I could get the money to fix it. I began looking for jobs locally around town that I could walk to but I couldn’t find any pharmacy’s that were hiring and was still unemployed for many months. Finally, I found someone who would do the work on my car as a charity case. I was so thankful that words couldn’t even express how I felt. After it was all fixed I knew I couldn’t live the way that I was with my kids so I decided to just find whatever I could and was able to get 2 part-time jobs locally. They didn’t pay much with one only being $8.50/hr. and the other being $10.00/hr. with limited amount of hours and no medical or dental benefits. I didn’t qualify for any assistance either because I was told I made too much money. I continued with these jobs for almost a year until I had gotten really sick and it progressed over many months. It was later found to be cancer and I was informed by the doctors to speak to my employers to let them know that I wasn’t going to be able to return to work for awhile. I was then put on a medical leave with one job but laid off with the other. It was suggested that I apply for assistance so I could have medical coverage for the medical expenses I was going to have to endure. I was approved not only for myself but for my 2 children as well. Things really started looking up for me, despite the diagnosis of cancer until one day, February 13, 2006, I was driving home from the mall and my engine in my car just seized up on the highway. I had the car towed to the dealership of where I had purchased my car 11 years ago. It took them only 5 minutes to tell me that the engine in my car had blown and it was going to cost me almost $5,000.00 to put in a new engine. Once again, I didn’t have that kind of money to fix my car so I began calling junk yards for estimates of how much it would cost me to get a used engine and it was still going to cost me about $2,000.00. I gave up trying to deal with it anymore and decided to just junk the car. It was the saddest day in my life though because I loved my car but I knew that it just didn’t have any more life left in it because it was 11 years old and had 108,500 miles on it. I accepted graciously and concentrated on getting myself well. I had to see many doctors for my cancer and the surgeon and hospital where I was going to have surgery was an hour away. Even in my time of illness, I found it to be very difficult to find anyone that could take me to my appointments and even for the day I was scheduled for surgery. Often times I just didn’t go to my appointments because I just couldn’t get there. The night before my surgery, I was scrambling around trying to find a ride to get to the hospital. I had no family that was willing to help and friends had a hard time taking time off of work. Finally, one friend did pull through for me but I was late getting to my scheduled surgery but thank God, the surgeon agreed to still do it. I don’t think anyone should have to live like I did and having to scramble around for rides for any reason especially for something as important as what I was going through. By the grace of God, I made it through the surgery. However, my troubles didn’t stop there. While I was recovering, it required me to be bedridden for 8 weeks. During those 8 weeks I became very ill and my doctor wanted me to come in. Once again, keeping in mind, he was an hour away and I couldn’t find anyone to bring me. A couple of days later I got worse and ended up being taken to the emergency room by way of ambulance and they said I had a bad case of pneumonia and needed to be put on antibiotics immediately. I got through that and was finally sent home but then 2 weeks later I had tried to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and I fell to the floor in agonizing pain in my chest and back and couldn’t move. I was rushed to the emergency room again and they did an MRI and an Echocardiogram. It was determined that I had a heart condition and my MRI showed I had a severe herniated disk with Radiculopathy (nerve damage) and was told that I needed to see a Neurosurgeon immediately. After looking at the films, he scheduled me for surgery to take care of the herniated disk but told me that there is nothing he could do for the nerve damage. I had the surgery and everything went fine accept that my heart couldn’t take the Anestesia and I almost died. It was at this time that the doctors said that my heart is very weak and I needed to be monitored on a regular basis. I was also told that any stress, even just a little bit could be damaging for me. With everything that had happened to me, I ended up going into a deep depression and couldn’t get myself out of it for anything. The trauma of all of what was and had happen to me had caught up with me. It also brought up other childhood traumas that I realized that I had never dealt with as well. At this point my health began to spiral in a downward way that was so overwhelming that I didn’t know how to deal with it anymore. My team of doctors determined that I probably couldn’t return to work and would probably have to go on disability. I applied for disability and in April of 2007 my benefits began. I’m still considered disabled but have come a long way from where I was before. I’m now more grounded because of a wonderful therapist that I have but I still have medical disabilities but have finally learned to manage it much better. And I must add that having the disabilities that I have certainly doesn’t inhibit my capabilities to drive and I would really like to see myself be able to have that opportunity again. I have come to realize that a car is necessary in this day in age for everything we must do in life whether it’s big or small. Having to rely on other people is very difficult and frustrating at times. Even to this day, I have to wait days, or even weeks to get anyone to take me to the doctors, the store to get groceries and household items, prescriptions etc... It’s now been 4 years since I have had a vehicle of my own and I have had to be at the whim of others if I have to arrange any kind of a ride to go anywhere and I just can’t take it anymore. I have tried saving money but I found it to be very difficult because of the amount of monthly income that I am forced to live on. After all my living expenses are paid there isn’t much left over. Furthermore, I can’t afford the monthly payments required to finance a car either. I have never been the type to ask for help or burden anyone unless it was absolutely necessary and now I feel that this is one of those times. If, after reading this, you feel I deserve a car could you please help me get a car by casting your daily vote for me. I promise that I will make sure I vote for you daily as well. Let’s all help one another to have the opportunity to be able to gain back our independence by having a car of our own.