Help Tracie In Her Recovery

Let me tell you a little back story (actually it is very long so I apologize ahead of time) about my mom, Tracie. If you know her, you already know she is amazing, and selfless, and tough af, hilarious, and super cool. But if you don’t then let me tell you about my momma...

My mom worked 3 jobs to make sure we didn’t have to move around or lose our house when we were younger after my dad and her split. Eventually she worked her way up to a production manager at a car selling magazine in Ventura where she worked long nights and drove an hour commute, that was until the recession hit. The company wanted her to layoff her employees that she had become close friends with. She told them she couldn’t do it because they had families and would struggle too much, so... they laid her off instead. About a month after that we found out my 17 year old brother had non-Hodgkins lymphoma and needed to go through chemo and radiation and all the fun stuff cancer brings with it. She continued to look for work but focused on taking care of my little brother. We were lucky my dad had some really good insurance though or else idk what we would have done.

Fast forward a few years, a lot of chemo rounds, and a last ditch effort of a successful stem cell transplant later and my brother is in remission! My youngest sibling has now graduated high school and is off to college. And... my mom just can’t hold on to the house we grew up in any longer. She has to resort to moving in to her childhood home in Santa Clara. We are all really grateful my grandmother was kind enough to let my mom stay there while no longer receiving the money from having renters in the house.

At this point my mom’s job search is still really impossible as she didn’t have a degree but was too over qualified for entry level design jobs- The conundrum that was a result of the recession for the older workforce, amiright? So, my mom decides to go back to school as she was the sole breadwinner in the household - my step father has Lyme disease and cannot work or drive even and does not have the insurance to get the proper medicine. Anyway, My mom was accepted to San Jose State University where she graduated from a really hard BFA program (I saw the tears, long hours, and hard work when I lived with her for a short time after I got out of the Army) and she graduated quickly! Awesome news right? Great degree, talent, hard working, experienced lady? Well it was at this time that we found out my grandparents caretaker was being super shady with money and she was not taking care of them properly as my grandmother spent half of a year in the hospital.

So my mom stepped in as always and decided to be their caretaker. My grandparents paid her to do everything for them as they have a hard time moving around and need a lot of help. Mind you, my mom has lupus and is in her fifties. She worked for them 5-6 days a week, paying towards her student loans, paying rent to my grandparents, and then spending most of her days off taking my step dad to doctors appointments. This was all up until 2 weeks ago. My mom honestly takes care of everyone before she takes care of herself and her health habits were not great. She paid that price when she had a massive heart attack on the 21st of June that resulted in needing a quadruple bypass. They ended up only being able to do a triple bypass but she is home now and recovering well.

You all would be happy to hear that she’s eating much better, she’s sleeping, and she has 100% quit smoking- Her direct quote after her surgery, “that sh*t’s stupid” .

It was a huge scare for us all as we ALL rely so heavily on my mom.. but now we would like to help her for once. She’s got a great support system already, she really does, but there’s only so much we can do... She’s already worried about how she’s going to pay the bills since she cannot work. She’s been home for a week and a half and she’s already stressed out, I’m terrified she will end up right back in the hospital. So, if you made it this far and you would like to donate to help my mom cover some costs and relieve some of that pressure, please do... we would be FOREVER grateful. If you can’t help financially, we totally understand, please share this go fund me to help spread the word. OR! if you possibly have some design work for her (in a month or two) then she could even start working from home and earn money in the field she actually went to school for. That truly would be amazing.

Thank you to everyone that has called and texted and messaged my mom and my family. You are all amazing. If any of you have a story about my mom that you would like to share, please feel free! I know she has touched so many lives and my siblings and I would personally love to hear more inspiring stories about our truly amazing mom ❤️❤️.