Escaping Tragedy
Donation protected
What do you do when you’ve exhausted every avenue for help?
What do you do when the stakes are as high as they could possibly be?
That is to say, what would you do for the health and wellbeing of your children?
Ginnie Duncan has handled much of the unimaginable situstions of her life with resignation and grace.
She lives with an auto-immune mixed connective tissue disease, scleroderma, and bladder and kidney disease.
Ginnie has had more than thirty operations and one of them was botched. The mesh that had been
surgically placed inside of her after a difficult childbirth is now eroding inside of her and heading towards failure.
She needs a surgical specialist of the sort she has no access to in New Mexico.
But this isn’t about Ginnie’s, complex medical history. This is about the immediate needs of her children.
Ginnie has two boys, ages 7 and 9.
This is a family that has suffered years of domestic abuse, both physical and psychological.
They have suffered violence in various forms by the man for years by the man Ginnie was once married to, the father of her children.
CYFD took the boys from him about a year ago, when the oldest son was beaten black and blue and almost broke his jaw.
This man’s alcoholism, which includes drunk driving with the boys in the car, sometimes even asking them to take the wheel, is a major problem.
This is not an isolated incident, it is a regular habit.
Ginnie and her sons have complex PTSD. The looming cloud of domestic violence has impacted the family in fundamental ways,
and at this critical period of development for the boys it has gotten to the point of crisis.
Ginnie’s youngest son is displaying an increasingly severe paranoia, and has complained of visions and afflictions invisible to anyone else.
He is increasingly violent towards his mother and his brother. He is actively suicidal behavior and has already made multiple attempts.
Ginnie sought help from every state agency available only to be handed from one agency to another, with each refusing responsibility, and directing Ginnie to yet another agency,
each as unable or unwilling as the last.
Ginnie is permanently disabled and lives on a disability check of $1,000 a month. This is hardly enough for rent anywhere,
let alone for the care of herself and her two boys. This is to say nothing of the costs of medical care, her own being placed on what seems a
near-permanent back-burner until the safety of her two boys is ensured.
With all avenues of aid exhausted in New Mexico, Ginnie has resolved to relocate.
In Texas, Ginnie has a support network absent in her life here, and more promising opportunities for mental health care for her children.
The goal of this fundraiser is to raise the money needed to make possible this relocation to an environment where the urgent mental health and safety
needs of her children can be met.
All they want is a normal life,
and all they ask is for a level playing field.
These are thin times for all;
this makes the care for those in need all the more crucial.
Please help however you can.
Any donation, however modest,
is truly appreciated and truly makes a difference.
Sincere thanks and gratitude for your kindness and concern.
Organizer
Russell Hernandez
Organizer
Albuquerque, NM