My parents threw me out at sixteen after I lost my leg. Nineteen years later they wanted a million dollars for my sister — to hide why a 24 -year-old woman may never walk again.

PART 4

Then there is Tamsin.

Tamsin Reyes. Twenty-four. She was a barista and a part-time sports coach and she came off a moped in the January of 2023.

Her leg was saved. There was a window — about fourteen months — in which a particular reconstruction had a good chance of getting her walking properly again. That is the short version and it is not mine to give in full.

Her health insurance covered part of it. Not the rest.

She applied to that foundation in the March.

She was approved in the April. There is a letter in the file on foundation paper with the logo on it, congratulating her and setting out the amount.

The money never came.

She followed up three times. In the June, in the September, and in the January of 2024.

And in the February she got a refusal, citing a review of eligibility criteria.

By then the window had closed.