OK, I believe you.
My first two comments were very sympathetic and helpful, by the way.
No question that the lives of good people can suddenly swerve off the road and into the ditch through no fault of their own.
However, when I read that this person was a teenage girl in a wheelchair, I could not help but think that just a little bit of advanced planning and effort could have prevented this crisis.
I am sure you’re right that advance planning might have avoided these problems. All down the line. But the advance planning sometimes goes out the window when, like Trussell, you fall down and find yourself suddenly paralyzed. That sort of disaster, with appropriate coverage and care declined by insurance, really throws you off.
I try not to be gullible, but there have been several times in my otherwise very fortunate and privileged life when, out of the blue, there was a sudden catastrophe. One odd thing I note is that comfortable people, people who have never had such mischances, are a little disconcerted, suspicious, and even a bit frightened by them, as if bad luck could be catching. They look at one’s circumstances closely to find out the error that led to these events. If they can figure out what you did wrong that led to this misfortune, they feel safe—it will never happen to them, because they’ll never make that mistake! Even if the disaster was something totally beyond the control of the victim, like a stroke, an automobile accident, a tornado, some Freepers (not you, of course) really have a blame-the-victim reaction to distress. This is unjust. Being conservative and independent-minded does not mean we do not have compassion for people who are really in a bad spot.