Hello everybody,

 My name is Anthony Harasimowicz, and I have started this Helpmebounce page to allow me an opportunity to tell my story and hopefully connect with some caring folks out there who might be able to bless me with their help. I have always had a big heart for others in their time of need, even when I was uncertain about where I stood in life. Being able to help others has always brought me a sense of purpose and joy in my heart. I am praying that I am making the right choice to reach out to others like I am, and may I find like-minded individuals who might be willing to lend me a hand through my struggles at this time.

 Life has not been easy since I lost my mother last year from a double lung infection that was brought on by Covid. She was always my best friend, so losing her was crushing to say the very least. I was raising my son as a single dad when my mother invited the two of us to stay with her. She needed help with some everyday tasks, and being that we had such little family left it made perfect sense. It made for a good environment to raise my son because my mother took him under her wing and treated him as if he was another one of her children.

 The three of us were very close, and we celebrated a lot of wonderful times together. However, my mother's passing was so unexpected and shook both my son and me intensely. At the time of her passing, I had just started filing for disability benefits due to a crushed Sciatic Nerve in my lower back and ongoing mental health struggles that made it next to impossible to continue my career or find any type of employment that would last. I sold most of my belongings, and I put the money aside because I knew that the process of being accepted by disability wouldn't be easy and time-consuming. I had hoped that the money I had saved would be adequate for the cost of living through this process.

 After taking care of my mother's final wishes and taking a short period to regather my thoughts, the bills started to roll in. I was shocked because I was unaware that my mother was so behind on every single bill and her homeowner's taxes were three years behind leaving her in jeopardy of losing her little fixer-upper home. I got in contact with each billing company to see if I could just transfer the bills into my name and start fresh. I wasn't aware that her debt after passing would be my debt, but, before I could even transfer said bills into my name, I was forced to dip into my savings to move forward. I had no idea that my mother was so behind on so many things because when my son and I moved into her home, she told me not to worry about anything. She put me in charge of covering the family's groceries and toiletries for the time being until I got through the disability process and was better off financially.

 At that point, I had burned through most of my savings and I was not only hurting but stressed out beyond belief. I remained thankful to have my son by my side to heal and get through things together, but that too came to a horrible end. After raising my son for seven years as a single father, my son's mother decided to drive from Florida to North Carolina, where my son and I lived. She brought Child Protective Services with her in the form of a case worker that had no sympathy or feelings for what my son or I had just been through. She was there to yell at me about my lack of mobility after my back injury, my financial stability, and my mental health conditions because I was an absolute wreck after all of this. My son's mother acted very maliciously toward me, and she made it clear that she was happy to take my son away from me which broke my heart.

 My ex told C.P.S. that she was going to be staying with friends here in North Carolina until I could get myself back together, so to speak. Instead, she got my son in the car kicking and screaming and headed straight for Florida. I contacted C.P.S. and legal professionals to find out what I could do to get him back, and I did the only thing that I could, I sold more of my belongings to hire an attorney. The only thing that I had left was a small but valuable guitar collection that I acquired over the years that held a lot of sentimental value to me. I sold the guitars as fast as I could losing out on a lot of the value that was there, but my son was the only thing on my mind. I managed to retain an attorney, we got all of the paperwork filed for the courts, I had my son's mother served in her county, and I ended up running out of funds just as mediation was supposed to begin.

 So, in the meantime, I have been living in my mother's little fixer-upper home alone just waiting for the day that my disability will come through with my benefits. The problem is that I have no income or anything else to sell worth much value to cover the cost of living. To be honest, I have been blessed to get help from time to time from various churches that have paid off small portions of my bills to help me keep a roof over my head through the cold winter months. I am more than thankful and feel blessed to receive their help, but they do have others in need which means that it's only a temporary fix once a year at most. I am now a year into filing for disability, I am in grief counseling, therapy, and going through major health issues.

 I have suffered from mental health issues since my childhood, but they have evolved into something much worse after all of the hardships I am facing. My mobility has gotten to the point where I have to use a walker most days just to make it to my mailbox, and I am dealing with renal failure (kidney issues) on top of everything else. My bills are all falling far behind at this point, and the tax collector's office has placed a lien on my mother's little home which is now mine due to a lack of funds to cover the homeowner's taxes. I have tried to get government assistance which I was denied due to their lack of funding. I have called and reached out to everybody I could think of, but resources are scarce right now.

 In short, I am trying to remain strong and focus on any good that comes my way. I miss my mother from the moment I open my eyes until the second I fall asleep at night. There is not a day that goes by when I don't tear up thinking about my son either. I have not seen him in over a year. For whatever reason, it feels like our once close relationship is slowly diminishing which hurts me beyond words. As much as I try to stay positive, the stress of everything has set in for the worse, and to be honest, all I want is to be able to reduce some of my daily worries so that I can begin to heal properly.

 I know that this is a long shot, but I am reaching out for help. If anybody can spare five dollars, anything at all, it would go a long way to take some of the stress of living off of my back so that I can try to regain some kind of quality of life. My health is on the decline, and I am trying my very best to fix that, but having to deal with these things in a potential situation where I would be homeless scares me. It keeps me up at night among other things, but I am going to keep hope in my heart and prayers that if you are reading this, you might understand what I am going through and want to help out a guy who is down and out right now.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

God bless you and be safe out there.

All the best,

Anthony Harasimowicz