Assist Joyce in Overcoming Multiple Hardships

Story

Hello, I'm Dennis, and the main photo on this GoFundMe is my amazing mom, Joyce. She's always been incredibly resilient, but the last few months have thrown an overwhelming series of challenges her way, leaving her life in complete disarray. I want to share her story so you can see why she truly deserves your help. The Identity Theft Nightmare It all started with an extensive identity theft case. Criminals infiltrated her Apple and Gmail accounts, opened an Apple credit card in her name, and even set up a fraudulent business PayPal account. Joyce has been diligently filing police reports and working with banks, but correcting this breach has been a relentless battle. There’s no overnight fix, and it has set her back financially quite substantially, causing immense stress and financial insecurity. This ongoing digital nightmare unfortunately became the catalyst for a cascade of other misfortunes. A Perfect Storm: Health, Connectivity, and Communication Urgent Knee Surgery Needs: Amidst this fraud nightmare, Joyce received news that she urgently needed a knee replacement surgery. I can’t imagine dealing with the fraud issue among a deluge of doctors' appointments, tests, and scans/etc in preparation for her operation. Sudden Phone Failure & Business Halt: One day, everyone was simply unable to get ahold of her – her phone went directly to voicemail. Her crucial iPhone completely died. This phone is her primary business line as a realtor, and its dead battery locked her out of both her Apple account (which requires phone verification) and her Gmail (which sends a text to her now-dead phone). Suddenly, she was without her vital business phone number and email access, grinding her real estate work to a halt. Update 7/18: Her Gmail account has yet to be fully recovered due to the complex verification process and Google's lack of direct customer support for such issues. Lost Phone, Phone Number, and Isolation: When she was getting ready to take her phone to get the battery replaced, she lost it. When she tried to get a temporary phone at MetroPCS, she couldn't remember her SIM card PIN. This meant she effectively lost her long-standing professional phone number, forcing her to get a new, temporary one. Without her contacts or backup data, she became instantly isolated from her day-to-day life and clients. Update 7/18: Her phone is still lost. Also — The sudden lack of contact from Joyce prompted concerned co-workers to request a wellness check on her. This moment, though born of worry, left her emotionally overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support. Many of her co-workers have since contributed to this campaign, and she wants to express her overwhelming gratitude (though knowing her, she's thanking you all individually!). A Small Victory Amidst the Chaos A small bright spot is that Joyce was already in regular talks with Apple regarding the fraudulent access to her account, the falsely opened Apple Card, and the addition of several unauthorized iPhones listed to her account. This "fraud watch" status on her account made recovering it much easier for her. We were able to recover her Apple account by leveraging an old, partially broken iPhone I had. After a frustrating 2+ hour call with Apple, and a 4-day security wait, we were able to connect my old phone to her account, restoring her crucial work contacts from a March backup. The Once-in-a-Lifetime Ringo Concert Turned Roadside Nightmare Amidst this tech chaos, a small joy was almost lost. For Christmas, a family member had given her tickets to see Ringo. Thankfully, she hadn't linked the Ticketmaster tickets to her Apple wallet, allowing us to salvage them and ensure she could attend the concert. The concert was a 90-minute drive away. Her 2017 Dodge Journey (which had its engine completely rebuilt just six months prior, costing her all her previous savings in addition to taking a loan in the thousands) started to overheat catastrophically on the highway. This was the very next day after losing her phone and five days before her long-awaited knee operation. She maintains that being stuck on the side of the road, waiting for roadside assistance, was one of the scariest moments in her recent memory. Every passing car felt like it might hit her, and she was too terrified to exit the vehicle. It was an hour of added stress on top of everything else. Our family and friends rallied, coordinating a ride to the concert, a place to stay the night, and a ride home. She means it when she says she had a blast at the concert, but no one should endure all that stress just to take in a once-in-a-lifetime show. The Final Straw(s) Knee Surgery Cancelled at the Last Minute: On the day of her knee surgery, she made it all the way to the OR (sedated and prepped) when the operation was cancelled. The anesthesiologist suspected an oral infection, fearing bacteria could complicate a knee replacement post-surgery. Impending Oral Surgery: She made an appointment with the dentist the next day and discovered she needed three teeth removed and a cycle of antibiotics before she could reschedule her knee replacement (now likely August). Update 7/18: She has since had her oral surgery. I’m unsure when her knee surgery is rescheduled for. Car Totaled (Again): Her vehicle was towed to her local mechanic (a trusted professional local shop Vance’s, distinct from the previous engine replacement when her car broke down on the other side of the state— unsure of that mechanic). They informed her that her engine was completely locked-up/seized. It would need to be replaced again. Update 7/18: The car was indeed dead. It's since been emptied and junked. She is now completely without transportation. Why Helping Joyce Matters Joyce spent most of her 20s, 30s, and 40s putting every life wish and goal on hold to raise her children, and then three of her children’s children. She was the full custodian of three grandchildren from 2002 until 2016. She then immediately transitioned into being the full-time home nurse/caretaker to her ailing husband until he passed away in 2019. She then had to spend every penny to her name & every second of free time, during the pandemic, traveling to New York visiting/caring for her younger sister dying of multiple types of cancer. She did all this through the majority of her life living with a small "lobster cage" fused to her spine from when she was rear-ended in 1998. Since then, she's had countless operations and medical complications of her own. She was never first. She was always a caregiver. While the immediate goal of this fundraiser is to help her get back on her feet and get her transportation, the real goal is to help her achieve some semblance of normalcy. Regular working hours, friendships, and day-to-day living. Any and all assistance in clearing these short-term hurdles will help her achieve something she's never truly had: just some time of things being calm. Please help my mom get back on her feet and back to work. Anything you can do for her is deeply appreciated. Thank you for considering helping Joyce in her time of need.