EN:

My last chance.

I want to work again, but my hands won't let me.

I'm writing these lines with a despair I can barely put into words. I'm backed into a corner and need your help to avoid losing everything I've built up over the years.

My life has been at a standstill for 12 months now. It all started after garden works with machinery — today I can neither lift nor carry anything. I suffer from nerve compression in my neck, which leads to chronic neuronal inflammation and swollen wrists.

The result: constant and unbearable pain that robs me of the will to live.

I couldn't generate income for a year now. Since I'm currently not entitled to social security, I'm on my own. My closest friends and even my family can no longer support me financially— everyone that has been supporting me until now (THANK YOU!) is pretty tight themselves and can't donate much more...

Why I can't simply return to Germany:

Many might be wondering: "Why don't you go back into the German system?" But for me, that's not a solution, it's a psychological dead end. I was already homeless in Germany and slept on the streets in -17°C weather. If I return now, sick and penniless, that trauma will resurface. On top of that, there's a massive bureaucratic problem: I would have to wait months there for insurance coverage to kick in – time and energy I simply don't have in my current state.

My goal: To finally get healthy again and get back to work! My dream: Get back into the water, surf and feel myself again without suffering. Enjoy life the way I used to before all this!

I don't want to give up my life here in Portugal. I've built something here and I want to finally get healthy so I can work again! But to finally find the precise cause of my pain and work on fixing the problem, I have to take the private route.

An MRI and specialized doctors are the only way to ever heal my hands. My doctors currently estimate the costs for diagnostics, treatments or surgery, travel, etc., at around €15,000. In addition, I need friendly support for food and other living costs.

Every euro helps me break this vicious cycle of pain and existential fear. Please support me with a donation and share this post with anyone you think might be a kind and helpful person. My physical health, my mental well-being, and therefore my entire future are at stake.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help.

Yours, Thomas