I closed my eyes. The Spring Street house was mortgage-free because I had sacrificed four years of my life to make it so. Now, before my incision had healed, they were planning to secure that gift away from me because they assumed I might become a financial burden. I did not confront them. I let them leave believing I had heard nothing. For the first time, I understood that getting stronger would require more than repairing my spine. I would have to stop financing people who had already begun planning around my disappearance.
Chapter 3
The Settlement Arrived After My Family Had Already Discarded Me
A month after surgery, my attorney Franklin Marsh called while I was practicing short assisted walks between the sofa and kitchen. He had spent nearly a year investigating the warehouse accident, collecting maintenance records, security footage, and engineering reports. The storage-rack manufacturer had known about defective locking pins, and my surgical findings now proved permanent injury and lifelong lifting restrictions. Their insurer settled rather than face a jury.
