My sister in the middle with the santa hat on

I have thought long and hard about making this post. Especially seeing that it is so personal and dear to my heart. I have so much to say, but I promise not to take too much time. Mine, like any other story is ongoing, and will be that way until my last breath and I thank @dobartim for providing me the opportunity to share it.

I will start it by narrating of how I started this relationship with STEEMIT. It began shortly after I got involved with cryptocurrencies in the summer of 2017. As the third child and primary breadwinner for my family in Jamaica, I sometimes found it difficult to send remittances home. This was especially during my time as a graduate student in the United States. From paying rent, to utilities, to buying food and just overall making ends meet was rather difficult. To top it off, I am still paying for the interest on my student loan.

That was almost two years ago, I worked hard and was able to receive a part-time job and win a fellowship while I was studying. As a result many financial burdens were lifted off my shoulders. This was not to last as towards the end of my studies I received a call from my mother. She was crying over the phone. It so happened that my only sister, who is the youngest of four children was diagnosed with an eye condition called Keratoconus. If you don’t know what this is, it is an eye disease that causes the cornea to take on a conical shape that leaves the sufferer visually impaired. But while the afflicted person will not go totally blind, legally, they can be rendered so. This means that things as basic as driving becomes a no-no.

Check out this video

Due to this she had to drop out of college. This put a monkey wrench in my parent’s plan, because the strategy was the have her, along with me receive a degree so we could take care of our older brother who has mental issues. Now, it is virtually me and the little my oldest brother brings in to ensure he, and now my recently retired parents are taken care of.

I did some research on the condition and found out about the treatment options that were available. The first was a corneal transplant, however, it was way too risky, for example, one potential side-effect would be that her body could reject the implant seeing that it is from someone else. Plus, it was a temporary solution, seeing that she would have to get a new transplant sometime in the future. And the same problems would arise. Furthermore, this procedure is super expensive.

There were two more benign options. One was cross-link procedure, a safe non-invasive method that would bring back her sight immediately. Plus it is permanent. It, however, costs close to USD 17,000. Due to this we settled on the third option, that of getting her hard contact lenses, another non-invasive procedure which costs about USD 3,000. The only problem with this one is that it is temporary and she has to return to the ophthalmologist annually in order to redo the procedure, which entails wearing a hard and soft contact lenses to give her near 20/20 sight.

Sending home, USD 200 per month, while difficult is not impossible. But add USD 3,000 to that is a stretch. Or might I daresay, impossible. It was through the patronage of individuals and organizations that we were able to get her treated last year. But knowing that treatment would be an annual thing and that it would be inconsiderate to be knocking up people for money every year, I decided to pursue cryptos.

Getting in was difficult because presently, I am working in Japan where language and cultural barriers make the learning curve steeper. But I had to come here because the immigration laws in the USA are very strict and going back to Jamaica was not an option. If I were to remain in Jamaica, it would mean that I would have to spend over half my annual income on my sister’s procedure. This is because on average Jamaicans make USD 5,000 annually. So there are times when paying bills or even getting food becomes a problem, especially now that economic growth is stagnant and the prospects for permanent employment are slim. That is unless you know people in high positions, which I don’t , because I wasn’t born into privilege.

In Japan, despite the challenges, I managed to learn about cryptos and this is where I found out about STEEMIT. Being a Facebook junkie, I was skeptical at first but then I read upon the ecosystem and learned about some success stories. That is when I decided to sign up and see if I could use it to earn money to assist with my sister’s ailment. Between this ecosystem and trading cryptos I was able to earn enough money to assist my sister with her surgery.

But it was not the power of my votes, nor the money earned from my posts that helped me in this regard. Because while my votes are only $0.12 (which is only recently), I was lucky to meet a few people who assisted me on my journey. @sweetsssj was among the first people. And while @blocktrades gave me the single largest upvote. @sweetsssj’s upvote of several of my posts really helped. To date, her upvotes have been the largest combined amount. But not only that, she is one of the few whales who replies to my comments consistently to the point that she could tell me what I wrote about in previous posts.

Me in the USA

In addition to @sweetsssj, @originalworks is a godsend. Not only for me but for many of us minnows. He runs a competition where participants can write about various blockchain inspired projects weekly. I have been fortunate enough to win several prizes which I have converted into cryptos, sold and have contributed those monies to my sister’s treatment.

It would be remiss of me not to mention that my first love is writing, and in addition to @originalworks, I have met @moworks, a new kid on the block who is doing something similar to @originalworks. Again, participating in their writing contests has helped me in raising the money for my sister’s eye care.

Another god sent on steemit for me is @terrycraft. He never fails to upvote my posts. But most of all I am grateful to @terrycraft for running STEEMIT’s most popular poetry contest. I have been participating in it for months and have found it helpful, not only monetarily, but it has showed me why I am really on STEEMIT; it’s for the writing more than the bucks. I cannot express how much I love writing. I have been writing for as long as I can remember. In fact, poetry was one of the first things I started doing. That was over 15 years ago, but I had neglected it because I was preoccupied with working to support my family and completing a book I started in 2009. Which is another story all entirely.

Since meeting @terrycraft I have been writing prodigiously. So, if you read this @terrycraft, thanks a million for reminding me of how much I love and adore poetry and writing in general because of you I have been active in the poetry section of this platform and it has caused me to become acquainted with another interesting poet, @d-pend. He is hands down among the most prolific poets I have met, on or off this platform. Just reading his work is a privilege. I am still amazed that someone can write as much as he does and manage to keep such a high standard. This selfless individual, who is also a consistent upvoter of mine, recently started a 100 day poetry challenge where people write one poem per day for 100 days with seven optional rest days. I have signed up to take on this challenge, not only to write but also to get feedback from the other people who have signed up for the challenge. Also, graphics is not my forte, @d-pend is promising to assist in that regard, so he is another god sent.

It has been a pleasure to have invited people on this platform, and while many are not consistent in posting I still encourage them to curate content, @dmilliz is an exception and he has been one of my greatest supporters here. I have been trying to get my sister and a number of family members and friends on to this platform but it is taking more convincing than I thought. I shan’t give up though.

Ultimately, my goal is to provide editing advise and service for people on this platform. At the expense of sounding like a broken record, I will repeat that writing is my heartbeat and I would love to create a community of editors who will assist people in their writing so as to improve and maintain the quality of the posts on steemit. I have assisted a few people in this regard. As I build my reputation, I hope to increase the number of people I am able help.

So, what started out as a way of assisting my sister, has morphed into so much more. Steemit has brought me back to that place, where, through elation I have come to realize that I have so much to learn and offer. The aforementioned people are assisting me in doing so. And while my sister’s fight is an ongoing one, I find comfort in the fact that steemit is an outlet for me, not only as a writer, but it is a community where I can find like-minded people to share stories of struggle and success and hope that one is able to grow despite the challenges.

Again, hats off @dobartim with your #Steemitultimatechallenge, for assisting people like me. I have been able to tell my story knowing that growth and advancement is never far away.

I know it is a long shot, but I urge you all to enter this contest. Just the act of sharing your successes and struggles is enough in my humble. Who knows, maybe your story is what someone has been waiting for. Perhaps it is through your words that you will be able to lift that one person; just a trifle out of a dark desolate place.

Thanks for reading, and let the universe be your guide. Be a part of the family on discord channel https://discord.gg/q9VEn5n