Living in the U.S. here, so non-American advice may not be the best thing for me, not sure.
I am living with an undiagnosed serious illness (haven't eaten for 45 days.) I am off work on FMLA, which is a thing businesses in the U.S. offer to their employees where you can taker time off and they will keep your job for you, but you don't get paid. We are not exactly poor, but we are going to be surviving for at least a month on a single income. That will be hard, but we'll make it if we cut back.
HOWEVER.
I have $1000 in medical debt, which will just keep climbing, and I also have a cousin who says that he can get me into the best hospital in New York- I'm in Indiana and we're not exactly at the forefront of medicine- to get thoroughly tested. I cannot afford either of these things. We do not have temporary disability insurance.
I have a lot of friends and relatives who might donate, but I feel like such an asshole asking for money. Especially when my wife is working and has a decent job. I've done everything I can since I was 18 to make it on my own and, while I have had to take handouts in the past, it was at the 'this or starve' level, and my doctor hasn't run out of tests to do on me yet, so I wouldn't quite put it like that. And what if the money isn't enough to go to New York and pay for all of this testing? Do I give it all back?
So should I do a GoFundMe? What do you think?
Please, please, please, please do not give me medical advice. I really really do not want medical advice from strangers on the Internet. I leave that to professionals. But I would love this bit of AITA advice.
TL;DR - Very ill, not working, in debt, possible solution in another state. Should I do a GoFundMe?
What's worse: Having your friends MAYBE "think less" of you for asking for money to fund your medical needs (and if they do think less, they weren't your friends anyway)....or death? Because this sounds like life or death, dude. A Go-Fund Me isn't asking 1 person to foot the bill for a large amount, it's asking many people to give a small amount. My cousin did a Go-Fund Me when she had brain cancer and sent it to everyone she knew, and we all donated.
Do you need the money fir actual medical bills, the ticket to NY, or both? I guess an alternative is taking out a medical bill loan (a quick Google search says they exist), but I don't know much about them. You said you have good credit, so you should be able to get one. Just because you have debt doesn't mean they won't give you the loan.
I'm sorry you're going through this, and that our American health care system is such shit.
I need money for both. And both existing bills and whatever the New York trip will cost in medical bills additionally.
And obviously death is worse, but I'd hate to think people only came to my funeral to piss on my grave. ๐
Just do the Go-Fund Me. If you lose friends over it, those bastards shouldn't be in your life anyway.
I can see you haven't done this so it's not "maybe my friends will think less" it's"maybe my friends will find out the severity of my disease and abandon me completely because only one or two of them were actually friends" ask me how I know
Don't assume you know anything about me.
OP doesn't owe their friends any medical information, even when asking for money for medical bills.