And that is how I got to Steemit.

Hello there! Welcome to my introduceyourself publication for Steemit! This is actually my second post on Steemit. My first post is a Spanish language introduceyourself article posted on June 17, 2019. I will continue to post in both English and Spanish.

Now I hope I do not bore you with my story.

My name is Jose I Irizarry. I live in a rural area on the outskirts of the town of Barranquitas, in Puerto Rico. I live with my wife, Ada, in a small apartment at the lower floor of my parents' house.

I'm not very present in social networks at this time. I am quite active on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/joseivan.irizarryhernandez. I also have pages on Twitter and Instagram but I use them so little that I do not even remember their addresses. That will change very soon. I will let you know my links when I start working them.

I do not usually talk much about my personal life but I want to tell you a little about my current situation since it had a lot to do with how I found Steemit. I ask for your patience, I will try to be as brief as possible.

Two years ago, I worked from my home as an over the phone interpreter from English to Spanish for customer service calls. I had been in employment for nine to ten years and I was doing quite well.

And then Hurricane Maria arrived.

Maria passed over Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane devastating our island and destroying our telecommunications infrastructure, leaving us severely incommunicado with the rest of the world. Because of this I could not continue working.

The obvious choice was to get work outside the home. With the emergency situation we were living, many workers were being asked to help with the rebuilding effort.

Then my right foot got ruined.

I developed a debilitating condition known as Charcot foot because of my condition of type 2 diabetes and diabetic neuropathy. At some point I suffered a blow to the foot that caused a fracture and having no sensation of pain in the foot I kept walking with it. By the time I noticed and I was able to go to a specialist I had several fractures in my foot. Now I have more screws than a hardware store in the foot, a special orthopedic boot (crowboot) that I have to use for life and restrictions that incapacitate me for most of the jobs I can find.

It was not until 7 months after Maria's whipping, when we had reliable telephone service again, that I contacted the language interpretation company for which I worked to see if they could reinstall me. They told me they would call me as soon as I had availability. I also sent requests to other companies dedicated to interpretation and translation.

So far I have not heard from them.

On top of that, my mother suffers from Alzheimer's and my father started suffering from acute anemia and we have to help them with their treatments and medical appointments. My savings have been disappearing as the days go by without a steady income.

With all these situations over I started looking for ways to make money from home to help my family and me. I started looking for videos on how to make money online on YouTube. I found out about Steemit's existence through a video from @andyhafell. When I saw the development potential that Steemit offered, fill out the application the next day.

I did not publish anything immediately, but I started looking for videos, articles and courses on the different facets of Steemit to educate me about the platform. It took a little longer than I thought given to situations that arose with my health and that of my family. I saw material from @jerrybanfield, @shayne, @ilyastarar, @elpausero, @mayvil and @cryptoinvesting, among others, all very useful and informative.

I will write about my experiences and interests in life. I will write about health and well-being, personal protection and general things. I will also be very aware of what I can learn from you.

I am very excited about this new adventure and the opportunity to share our ideas. I will be looking out to try to answer your comments.

Well, I'm finishing so I do not take more time.

Thank you very much for getting here and taking your time to read this! I wish you a good day!