Hi friends, it's Sandra and I'm fundraising on behalf of my coworker and friend, Nina. I’ve worked with her at Noom for 2+ years and I’m in awe of her. My whole team is. I can be wordy but I’ll do my best to keep this concise.

Nina’s a young 30-something whose mom has Alzheimer’s and Nina is her primary caretaker. Her mom used to live in an Alzheimer’s care facility, but when sh*t hit the fan with Covid, Nina opted to have her mom live with her instead. She saved up to buy a house last year so it could better suit her mom’s needs. Nina works full-time as a health coach like I do at Noom and she’s also working towards her master’s in nutrition. She has zero family support. This girl has the most unreal perspective on life. For over 2 years, I’ve watched her be endlessly optimistic no matter what she’s going through; she’s a brilliant coach, funny, sweet, unbelievably thoughtful, and everyone’s biggest cheerleader on our team. I’ve never quite met anyone like her.

She works TIRELESSLY to take amazing care of her mom, planning things to make her days special, movie nights, spa days, and cooking with her. She celebrates every day with her, no matter how difficult. I’ve seen plenty of others in my life be incredible caretakers for loved ones — the love, effort, sacrifice and energy that goes into it. But never someone as young as Nina, who takes it on so graciously. In many ways, her life is on pause so she can be there for her mom day in and day out. If you heard her talk about her experience and saw the smile on her face, you’d immediately be in awe of her too.

So why am I doing this? In our weekly team meeting, where we all share life updates, she mentioned her basement just flooded and her insurance doesn’t cover that. So all funding will go directly to Nina to help pay for the basement and anything in excess will assist in caring for her mom.

This is a small glimpse into a woman’s life who you may never have the pleasure of meeting. I’ve never set up a GoFundMe page before but there have been so many instances over the last couple of years where I’ve wished I could drive over to her house (she’s on the other side of the country), hug her, cook her dinner or help with SOMETHING to take a load off. So this is my attempt to help in some small way.

If you feel compelled to donate, thank you so very much for your generosity, no matter how small. I'm fully aware that times are tough right now for so many people. I know how much it would mean to her and I can’t think of anyone who deserves it more.

Sandra