During our time in Commerce City, we faced a series of significant challenges that compounded the difficulties we would later encounter. It was during this period that my health began to decline sharply, leading to diagnoses of fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). These conditions made managing daily life increasingly difficult and took a severe toll on my overall well-being.
Given our close proximity to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, a site historically known for its chemical weapon production and environmental contamination, I began to wonder if this might have played a role in my deteriorating health. The arsenal has a well-documented history of chemical leaks and soil contamination, raising concerns about the potential long- term effects on the health of those living nearby. This possible correlation between my health issues and our location added another layer of anxiety to our already challenging situation.
Commerce City was also a place of various mysteries for us, one of the most positive being our discovery of Pinky. Pinky was just a kitten when Amber and I found out we were expecting our first child. Sadly, our excitement was cut short by the devastating loss of our baby girl due to a miscarriage. The pain of experiencing this loss was something that many do not understandâ the emotional and physical toll it takes on a woman and a couple is profound. During this difficult time, Pinkyâs uniqueness, his sharp intellect, and his loving personality became a source of comfort and joy for us, helping us navigate the grief and sorrow that followed our loss.
Adding to this stress, I was laid off from my position as a Hospice Care Representative due to “changing conditions in the market due to COVID-19.” Despite having only just started the role a month and a half prior and still being in the onboarding process, I was laid off on the very day I was supposed to begin visiting medical contacts, physicians, and facilities in person. The company restricted access to these buildings to anyone except clinicians, which I was not, and so I was laid off simply because I couldnât leave the office setting.
Despite my efforts during the early days of the COVID-19 crisis calling numerous Home Depots, plasma centers, Loweâs, outlet centers, Walmarts, hardware stores, and non-profits to secure PPE donations for our hospice agency and staff, including masks, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer, and even 100 3D-printed face shields from a local Denver company. I was neither thanked nor recognized. Instead, it felt as though I was simply squeezed for all my old contacts and sales information from my prior experience in the field. After being laid off from Namaste Home Health and Hospice, my familyâs financial situation rapidly deteriorated.
Unable to keep up with the payments on the brand new truck I had gotten with “perfect credit and basically 0% interest rate,” I was forced to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I had to give my Tacoma back to Toyota and bought a cheap Mitsubishi Montero to get by. However, even that vehicle mysteriously quit working one night while I was in a local ARC thrift store the electrical system went completely out without warning. Despite my best efforts to fix it replacing known trouble relays, checking the battery and starter, and even attempting security codes known to fault on Monteros nothing worked. After hours of wasted effort, I had no choice but to junk the car.
By the end of our time in Commerce City, our family was down to just one little car and one income. Fortunately, my wife has always been a Wonder Woman, holding everything together despite the overwhelming challenges we faced.