Salvatore’s $20K Wedding Giveaway

Tell Us Why You Should Win: Tony and I met in a small town known as Angola NY when I was just 13 years old and he was 14 years old.We met on the after school bus and you could say, it was love at first site! I learned later, he was my best friends cousin that just moved in with his dad in the area! What a small world! My best friend hooked us up and for personal reasons, he had to move in with his mom in Attica a few short months later. We decided to break up since we felt long distance relationships do not work at such a young age. However later on I was told by his mom, my picture did not leave his dresser mirror. I moved on and started dating when I was 16 years old. I missed him terribly but it was time for me to move on. A few years later, he moved back and became close with my brother. The two of them became best friends and since my brother and I are only a year and a half apart, we shared the same friend group. Tony was then everywhere. I stayed true to my relationship but then when I turned 18, my heart found it's way back to Tony. One day while taking a ride with me in my car, he asked me to get back together with him. I kinda shrugged it off but was screaming for joy on the inside all while keeping my cool on the outside. We sealed the deal on Feb 28,2001. We then moved out on our own in June of 2001. We had many room mates over the years but quickly realized it was hard to live with anyone other than each other. They say, if you can live with them, marry them! We got to watch each other grow and mold to each other. We welcomed our first baby boy on June 21,2005 and then a second baby boy on October 17,2007. I then decided to return to school for nursing in August of 2008 and graduated the one year accelerated nursing course in September of 2009. Until then, I was a stay at home mom. In March of 2011, I was injured while on the job. I blew two disks in my neck (C4,C5) and also tore my rotator cuff on my left side which we did not know until later on. I did two 8 week rounds of physical therapy until I learned I was pregnant and could no longer safely lay on my back for the therapies I was doing during pregnancy. Since I was pregnant, I could also not have any more MRIs or CT Scans etc... My shoulder healed but it healed incorrectly leaving me with terrible nerve damage and muscle spasms. Despite this, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl on January 17,2012. A short time later, Tony and my beautiful Aunt went into a business partnership in the vapor industry after they had both successfully quit smoking using an cigarette. Many months of research and our dream became a reality. I then went on to do private duty pediatric nursing in the home setting and got certified to care for medically fragile children. I could no longer perform my nursing duties in the adult population as I can no longer perform CPR with out furthering my injuries and would leave my patient in a dangerous situation should that duty arise. Our business was thriving, I also loved my job and we were doing well for ourselves. In September of 2017 my daughter was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder known as Henoch Scheloin Purpura. Her immune system was attacking her red blood cells causing inflammation and they became so inflamed they were bursting leaving her to bleed into her tissues under the skin. She could not walk as both her feet pooled with blood. Her intestines were bleeding, her kidneys were bleeding. We still doing urine dip sticks to check for many things that can signal a problem.Many sleepiness nights were ahead for us as there is no cure and only the symptoms could be treated and attempted to be controlled. We encountered many sleepiness nights with the belly aches and my daughter laying in agony and crying for the pain to go away. Let me tell you, it is so unbelievably hard to be a nurse, a peds nurse a at that and not be able to help my own child. I could only treat the symptoms and be there for her and especially on her worst days. This ultimately had Ill effects on my job responsibilities as I was missing alot of time at work.This is a life long illness she will have that will remain dormant in her body. She is currently in remission thankfully but we will always be on the look out for another flare up. I currently also home school her. As the years have passed, my injuries have been further exacerbated leaving me with blow disks at the L4,L5 and S1 level as well. To say each day is a struggle for me is an understatement but here I am doing it with a smile because life is too precious and too short.This time last year our business was flourishing and we could finally see a wedding in our near future as we have been engaged since our ten year anniversary! Next month of Feb 28,2020, we will be celebrating our 19 year anniversary. Today, our business is suffering as it has been slandered by corrupt politicians as I am sure the world is aware by now of the illicit market and the illness that was created from it and then blamed on our industry. We have personally helped thousands of people get off combustible tobacco and lead a healthier lifestyle not only for themselves but for their children as well. We also help them get of the vapor as they do so choose by lowering their nicotine levels to zero over a period of time. This is the first successful smoking cessation in the history! Our customers became our family and we wanted them to live to meet their grand babies. Our business today is still trying to hold on and come back from these damages but it has not been easy. At this time, we currently do not see being able to afford our wedding we once saw so close. The goal was to be married on our 20 year anniversary which will be February 28,2021!