If I had a Million Dollars, a kidney transplant, $400,000 in debt and 23 years later

Maybe you have heard the song If I Had a Million Dollars by the band Bare Naked Ladies. What would you do if you had a million dollars. In December of 1993 (I was married, now divorced) our oldest son became very sick only 10 days after our second son was born. Without going into great detail he had a rare genetic disorder (Senor Lokken) he had kidney failure. Miraculously he survived even though a couple of times it looked like he wouldn't make it.

In November of 1994 I gave one of my kidneys to my son. To this day he is doing fine. The whole situation put us somewhere between $250, 000 and $400,000 in debt and we HAD insurance. Never took the time to actually add it all up. It was just too overwhelming. But we decided not to file bankruptcy. We just didn't feel right about it. I was making good money as a real estate agent and although my wife had to quit her job to take care of our son when he was on dialysis, we decide to pay it all off.

So we dug in. Not spending money on things like clothes, entertainment, dinners out and other things except for the things our kids needed. Years passed and it took it's toll but we never discussed bankruptcy.

My wife and I divorced in 2007. At the time of the divorce our debt was down to about $70,000. The judge said it was the first time he ever did a divorce case where instead of dividing up assets he was dividing up debt. His definition of "dividing" was interesting as I got almost all of it.

The divorce and the aftermath of it put me deeper in debt again. Two steps forward and one step back was a theme in the whole process. I got down another again past the $100,000 mark. Today I am back to where I was at the time of the divorce.

I ran across steemit a month or so ago and it looked promising to making money. I was/am hoping it can be a way for me to help with this final amount that I have been working on for almost a quarter of a century. I have told many friends of mine. I just want to get back to zero.

I could tell you so much more about all the things that happened but didn't want to make this post so long that no one would read it.

Hope you upvote. I never filed bankruptcy putting my debt on society but rather taking responsibility for it myself.

Thank you.