I'm really going to hell now...

Two days after I post about "spam" mail I receive this:

Dearest friends and family,

Please do not think that I need sympathy but please do read this message. The Embassy here in Chiang Mai wanted me to contact as many friends and family as I can to ask for assistance because they are working on getting me back to the states. Here's why:

15August2009

I'm e-mailing you because I really need prayer right now. I do believe that the Lord's grace is sufficient for me, but I have just this week been diagnosed with "Epilepsy" that is possibly due to a small cystic mass in my brain.

Most of you know that before last November I was a very healthy man, 12 years as a soldier and 13 years as a Respiratory Therapist. I had never been hospitalized for an illness, prior to last year. It started with a 3 day hospitalization from "acute psychosis" and memory loss while I was teaching in the Bangkok area last November/December. After the holidays I was recovered enough to start teaching again and then I was struck with another bout of "acute psychosis" and 2 weeks of memory loss. I was hospitalized for nearly 3 weeks as well as 3 days in jail and that was when the "mass," (about 9mm in diameter,) was discovered in my brain towars the rear to the right of my Medulla, by MRI with contrast. It took me 4 months to recover and I finally was teaching again. At that time many of you from the U.S. and Thailand helped me pay the hospital bills and passport visa fees that ran up due to overstaying my visa. In the end the total was over 75,000 Thai Baht or about $2500. This is not much in American standards but in Thailand it is quite a bit of money. My salary was THB 30,000 per month (about $900) prior to my hospitalization. And most of you know that I gave away everything I had prior to leaving for Thailand and only came here with $8000.

In March I asked you if you could help me raise about $2000 so I could get back to the states and get to a VA hospital since I am a combat veteran. The Army had garunteed that in case of severe ilness they would take care of me.

Anyway, to make a long story short, We were only able to get together $1400. But praise the Lord, I was able to get back on my feet and get the teaching job in Pichai. This was not enough for a plane ticket and the passport fees to get back to the states,so my alternate plan was to work for 2 semesters and save enough money to get myself back to the states, maybe in January or so.

Thank God I got a job but unfortunately this did not go as planned because once I started working in Pichai, first I was denied health insurance in case I got sick again and second, after 8 weeks of teaching,I did get sick again. I was just released from the hospital today because I was found unconcious on the train from Uttaradit to Chiang Mai and my heart was in SVT (Supra-Ventricular-Tachicardia) due to a seizure. This is where I was finally tested for and now diagnosed to have the "epilepsy." Although the Internal Med docs and the Psychiactric specialist think it has to do with the cyst/"mass," the Neurologist thinks different and he says I just have "right temporal lobe epilepsy."

I've contacted the Consulate General in Chiang Mai and they are working on getting me back to the U.S. at this time. My hospital bill is THB 67,800 (about $2100) which is not alot of money considering I was in ICU on a ventilator for 3 days and have had multiple tests (CTs, MRI, EEG, etc.)
The problem for me is that I don't have any money because I just started working again and my paycheck was just enough for me to pay off my bills and have about THB 3000 left over (About $100.)

You might be thinking that because I've mentioned the money so much, I might be asking for money, but I'm not. (SECRET: The Consulate General wants me to ask for money but I will not this time!) Remember, I believe the Lord's grace is sufficient for me. I believe that the US Embassy will help me get back to Oregon. I also believe this happened for a reason and it will all end well. You know me and know that I am a strong, positive and happy person and trust and love the Lord, but it is hard for me right now to keep that optomistic feeling. I came to Thailand to make a difference and now I feel I didn't reach my goal.

Right now I need prayer for myself and I need prayer for my family's strength to deal with this and I need prayer for the Embassy staff that they can smoothly get me on a plane and back to the states. Please also pray that when I do get home, I am able to get the right treatment for my condition and also be able to find the right Respiratory Therapy job that not only provides for me but glorifies the Lord.

I hope you recieve this well.
Blessings and love always,
-Verno

I first posted about by brother in Thailand here last November. After that posting I sent my brother $2,000 dollars via the Embassy in Thailand. I posted again about him here & here. Now he's at it again, e-mailing around 60 of his closest friends & family for money.

You might think I've got a cold heart about this, but I have good reason to believe he's full of shit. Unfortunately, there is no way to convince my mother that he's scamming people,(including her) because she's a religious wacko herself, & falls for all this God crap.

In a way, I suppose my mother's being paid back for shoving religion down all of our throats while we were growing up. How ironic that it's the religious one that's giving her hell.
:)