McKinney Mom's Dilemma: Sell House to Pay for $300,000 Surgery, Or Live in Pain

Medical debt is the single biggest cause of bankruptcy in America. For Marlena Wilzbach of McKinney, it could end up taking her family home.Wilzbach and her husband, Mark, are putting their home on the market to pay for an expensive surgery to repair a spinal injury suffered in an auto accident. The cost of the surgery: $300,000.Her medical debt saga began in April 2016 when the driver of a truck ran a red light and sped into the passenger side of a minivan Wilzbach was driving. It was filled with carpooling kids, including one of her daughters."I twisted (the wheel) as hard as I could and saved my daughter's life," she said.Wilzbach took the brunt of the head-on impact. She now has a severe spinal injury that makes each step a struggle. Doctors said she needs an invasive back surgery to have any hope of normal mobility.Her husband is self-employed with no medical insurance. The man who smashed up the family's minivan is unemployed with no assets and no insurance. Her insurance gave her a $20,000 payout for uninsured motorist coverage."We're screwed. We're financially behind the 8-ball and the only financial asset we have is our home," said Mark Wilzbach.So they made the difficult decision to sell the home to pay for her surgery. But they first needed to make improvements to get the most out of the home. A dispute with a contractor making the repairs is adding extra stress and causes Wilzbach to tear up as she described her family's plight.   Continue reading...