My name is Blake. I’m trying to raise money so I don’t let my, daughter, animals, mother and self down by becoming fully homeless and losing my job.

My mother passed away away a few days ago. I am currently facing being fully homeless June 1st 2026. I am staying in her apartment until it’s taken over on the first but also I have an opportunity to move into an apartment the same weekend if I can raise the funds.

I have a decent job that I can maintain life with if I’m able to get what’s needed for the initial costs. I have a vehicle but it is not registered or insured also due to not having the funds.

if I raise $6k the first 4.5k will be for two months rent and security, 600 will be to put my car on the road and the last 900 will be used for any electrical services first and the remainder for a bed and a couch.

There are many reasons I am where I am. Currently where I am is sleeping on the floor in my deceased mother’s basically empty apartment with my emotional support animals (Some ball pythons and a chihuahua) and all of my belongings. In days if we haven’t raised enough we will all be on the street. I don’t want to lose them they mean a lot to me!

This will be long and i apologize but I promise it all ties together.

I have diagnosed adhd pretty severely. I took the three part test with a doctor in person to be diagnosed. I don’t say it to sound cool or as a crutch. I was also diagnosed as bipolar years ago but they said it wasn’t typical bipolar so didn’t know how to class it and medications didn’t really work for me. Now the thought is that I have a level of autism potentially. That honestly makes so much sense!! I have huge sensory triggers and calming points. I have triggers in general and that is more my thing than a mood that simply changes at times, though the manic moments can be real. I view everything as a puzzle or problem to solve and I point out the obvious or anything that isn’t proper. The list of things that point to this goes on but the health insurance hasn’t been there for testing to find out until recently.

until recently I was unemployed and very much struggling to find a job in my area of upstate New York. I worked in the medical field for many years as an EMT, Phlebotomist and Lab Associate. I was married and with the same one girl for 20 years since I was age 16. After my divorce had been completed my ex wife then started family court proceedings and used my daughter and the legal system as her personal tools and weapons against me. This was also just before and at the start of Covid. What happened cost me my career and credentials, then my car, credit and home. This was a period of fighting many things falsely and until Covid was over I couldn’t actually start the trials to negate things. Once that happened it still took time but I did in fact prove everything false and save my legal record after 3 years. My ex is a powerful person in a powerful hospital and from a very powerful and respected family with direct connections to the family court and all things medical in my area.

I was a PTA lead and very involved parent. My daughter and I were best friends and inseparable. It’s been seven years now that she’s been alienated and kept from me. I fight and stay in an area where I’ve lost my name, credentials, credit and hope all because I’ll never walk away from my child. Even if she can’t see me, I’m always close for her.

Finally a medical job came into my area that my skills fit with and they aren’t aligned with the hospital my ex works for. I got a real job! The catch was go to Ohio for three months to train. Going back to school hasn’t been an option for me financially and there was no other way I was walking back into a job like this in my area. Up to this point I have been doing bartending jobs that I burned out on and in this area the restaurant industry is really suffering. Nothing was steady or stable so no matter how much I’ve been trying to get back to a place I was once at or just stable, I couldn’t. I didn’t see hope either because again, leaving being near my daughter just hasn’t been an option I’d allow in my mind and between my ex wife’s reach and my own losing touch with myself or burning out on things, my small area seemed tapped for me career wise.

I am currently 42 years old. I went to school for criminal justice, civil engineering, phlebotomy, information technology and emergency medicine. At one point I was head EMT and teamsters union president of my ambulance company and I was there for 9 years.

During the time of family court battle and struggle I did have one person make a large donation to help me fight for my daughter and to invest in me with the beliefs that I could make a career for myself with ball pythons. I had by some miracle of chance had this person reach out at the same time I had ability to get very amazing and pricey snakes for great amazing deals and eventually they could make babies that would be worth so much and so on. So I thought and was told. That market is over saturated and the prices and sales are struggling on their own right now.

(This is all still relevant and important)

As like I have this habit of doing, I started pointing things out that I thought weren’t proper in the ball python industry but in a way that exposed many wealthy people and long time beliefs to all be wrong. This made me go from a quick rise polarizing figure with a big future potential to someone to watch with popcorn from a distance and it was a love him or hate him type thing.

The lawyer I hired for family court stole a very large amount of money, stole a big box of evidence, did NO WORK and was out after.

I had many court appointed attorneys back out. No one would go against a judge with seats in family and Supreme Court or the lawyers my ex had. I was again my own attorney and it was 5 years deep into the case at that point. My exes control with an old order of protection was running out and she had no grounds to get new. The judge was illegally trying to coach the opposing side to figure out how and I have that and many other transcripts I payed thousands for that show many illegal tactics and quote many abusive things by a judge!

Every single thing I say, if anyone were to reach out I’d be happy to provide physical evidence to in order to show I speak only the truth of what’s happened to my life. I assure you nothing I am writing is to blame it’s just what happened. I want peace and to not think about any of it ever again, my daughter deserves that, not to see battles and pointed fingers.

my ex wife tried two more false police reports to try and get herself a new order of protection so it would be easier to block me having contact with my child. I had myself on recording through the entire time of one claim and a lot of texts and photos that negated the next and though I was originally falsely arrested, everything was dropped, she wrote to the family courts to drop it there because she knew I had solid evidence to now have her brought up on the false reporting charges. I however would not do that to the parent of my child even when it’s real unlike her mother that tried to hurt the father of her daughter with lies every time possible.

In the two years since and with no order of protection in place my ex wife still won’t allow contact and even with my mother just passing away, would not let me speak to my daughter or confirm the message sent. She alienated her from all other family that had to do with me also.

During the period after the lawyer stealing my donated money and me investing too much in snakes thinking they were my only shot at a future and retirement, I had minor bartender jobs and I moved into an apartment that didn’t require a credit check.

I have a very hard time finding places with no pay stubs, no credit needed and without showing a rental history or three times the rent worth in salary per month. This building had many code violations and I brought the issues to the owner who then quietly sold the building for a cash deal. The new landlord said if I did the work to fix it he would take it off from rent and he quoted $5k minimum. Realizing the time and extra costs it would actually be after plus that he’d rather have his workers from the business under it use it for a crash pad and not rent it or deal with code, he went back on his deal and we started court just before I got this job offer. It worked out that my lease ended the same time I would leave to train.

My mother had been very sick and in two years went from mobile to bed ridden, loaded with tumors, dementia, 50% use of only one lung so on permanent oxygen. And lost 65 lbs when she only started at 125. My mother was living alone in a small two bedroom as my aunt used to live with her and then left her and the area all together a year ago. My mother had in home nursing hospice care as the state could not find a place for her. She was on Medicare and Medicaid. My mother never achieved anything in life career wise but was a very free spirited independent woman with a no quit attitude. She was heavily tattooed when that was not a thing for ladies in the 60,s and 70’s, she was the second female in the world to drag race after her friend Shirley was the first, she ride motorcycle and played the drums,she had 3 marriages and 4 kids. My siblings aren’t around. She worked odd jobs my entire life and she would become a garbage picking metal scrapper late in her life but she truly enjoyed doing it. She found ways to survive no matter what and her own resilience was inspiring.

The apartment she was in is senior living only. She said I could store as much stuff as I could in her apartment and that I needed to go to Ohio for this job opportunity and to not worry about her, that she would hold on and help me so I could do what I needed to become stable and respectable again in order to provide that to show my daughter a man that isn’t a failure or struggling.

This is her way of giving back and doing good for me and showing me the love of a mother.

We never had a perfect relationship. My father was gone and eventually he would pass away with me only speaking to him ever a few times.

My mother had addictions and when I was 12 she signed me over to the state so she could have fun and be carefree. I was in group homes with the “bad kids” for four years simply because my mother wanted to do drugs and not be a mom. that hurt!

I read and figured out how to do what was needed to be emancipated and at 16 I was released and my own man, soon after that I met the girl that would become my wife and mother of my child.

my mom was never the best mom but I still appreciate some of the things she did because I got to see a lot of society that most don’t and I learned from it. My mom will always be my mom and I’ll always love her no matter how much she hurt me different ways as a child. She was abusive in many ways but she was adopted and abused herself so I hold nothing against her. I know she was a product of her environment and when she could she always did what was in her capabilities for me. She loved me even if sometimes it was confusing to me.

While my mom could take a good amount of my things she could not fit everything so I lost my large furniture. My couch, my bed, my tables and chairs. I have my clothes, my few memories items that are left after my divorce and after a flood of my first apartment ruined almost all I ever had… I have my snake equipment here too. She could not obviously take my snakes though.

Back to them. During my time in the rundown apartment I had a very large issue of rodents and birds getting inside. The landlord did send someone to “fix” the situation. That person broke my air conditioner and it filled my entire apartment with large amounts of dust and smoke from the eventually burning motor. This even killed multiple snakes with respiratory issues from the mold, dust and potential disease and mites being blown in from large breeding nests in all my windows and this killed all of my rodents I had for producing food for my snakes. It was catastrophic!

I met at a reptile expo a woman that bred snakes and rodents and said she had extras. She was about 3 hours from me in New Hampshire. She had rodents I could get from her to feed my animals and potentially start new colonies. When I went to get the rodents the home was a large old farmhouse with a detached building behind it. That building held the rodents. The rodents were not being kept the best and there were hundreds but also this was not the worst I had seen. There were things that raised some alert as they also bred many dogs that were in cages on the porch and she breeds snakes like I do. I did not see in all of the home. The kids were running around barefoot and kinda dirty looking but it was summer in the country so I didn’t think much past that. When I was going to move I put out feelers and made a public posting asking if a fellow snake breeder could watch my snakes while I was gone and I’d pay for the feeding. The same woman responded saying she could hold them for me and that she had so many rodents she was about to euthanize some and if she watched my snakes it would help her balance out by feeding mine. That sounded great. During the time between me getting rodents from her and her offering to watch my snakes we had developed a talking relationship and she was very open about meeting a guy at her part time job and within a few weeks telling her 6 kids she’s seeing this guy and leaving their dad that she was with for 20 years! The day before I was supposed to bring my snakes to her she said she might not have space. She already said she had space in her racks for my animals but now she wants to clean her racks and down size and maybe sell one and can’t if my animals are in it. I ask what she can fit if I bring my racks and it’s not a big space then she says she couldn’t keep them warm. I am due to leave in two days for this job at this point. My solution was a big plant grow tent and heat as it’s insulated and I could maintain the heat and the humidity needed but my animals would be cohabitated and in locked large containers. As I’m driving to her house she warns there will be a lot of ammonia smell. I ask why and she says it’s because the dogs have been allowed to urinate everywhere in the home.. when asked why to that she revealed she’s only been at the home once a week and has been staying in another town with the new boyfriend the rest of the time. Upon arrival she told me most of her rodents had died off and she didn’t have enough to feed her own snakes anymore let alone mine. She also told me it’s her kids that have to take care of the rodents as she’s super allergic to them and can’t go tend to them as needed anyway. This is now school year time and march, the kids looked more unkept. Going inside the house was in-fact loaded with urine smell and the dishes were piled up and stuff all over. The mom of the home and the owner of the animals abandoned everything and everyone. She would later say to me “nothing was going to stop her from getting hers and having fun”. I begged her to be with my animals more and told her to order and buy whatever amount she needed for feeding mine and show me receipts and I’d pay. I had no choice but to leave my snakes there and have the best hopes she would at least feed and water them once a week. The amount of animals she had and the amount I had are a full time job. She only works part time but prioritized this new fling over everything and it was scary. I left the next day to go train.

During this time I would have a break to go “home” on a weekend also. I planned for Mother’s Day weekend. It would be my last one with my mom and I had booked a side gig for bartending a large mother day brunch and to also potentially get my snakes that weekend and if not then two weeks later. The person holding my snakes knew this. I was supposed to be able to save money for a new apartment and I was. I had a dental emergency about a month in that gave me a big infection and lots of pain. I made an appointment with aspen because they are everywhere and in network of my new dental insurance, I was excited to finally fix some broken teeth. The first appointment didn’t happen. I got there after being allowed to book it and was told they will not see me because of a large bill I had more than two years ago.. when the teeth got broken and I didn’t have the insurance to cover it but needed right away care. At that time they still did the work then billed me. So I had to wait another week and get another check because it was for more than what I saved already. I got paid, I payed them, got seen, got meds, a big gross thing popped and it was not fun.

Now six weeks in I’m asking the status of my snakes and why aren’t you talking about feeding and I need photos. I’m being told now I have multiple snakes dying, when I get some photos of them they aren’t in the containers I left them in, they are emaciated, one was in a sopping puddle. The care was terrible and just not there. The person refused sending me videos of my live snakes, wouldn’t tell me how many were alive, didn’t show or prove some were in fact dead and refused to keep things in writing as an avoidance tactic. I have many direct and professional texts to this person asking specifically about all of this and her responses. She made a statement stating I needed to now get my snakes early and she wouldn’t show me my snakes or tell me how many were alive still.

These snakes all are my friends at this point before and not Just an investment for my retirement that I lost.

I did stand my ground and state I’d have to get the authorities involved if she was refusing to show me my animals and threatening me and that would bring animal control and child protective because of the state I saw things in. She was stern in get them now.

So I had to change my week to go home and instead go and drive from Ohio to New Hampshire and back to save my snakes. It took three days in total with hotels, food and gas that weren’t planned for. I then had to forfeit seeing my mother for Mother’s Day and making planned money. It cost me greatly.

This person then went and tried to actually discredit me online with help of her snake industry friends before I could go public because she was worried that I would. All I cared about was my snakes. It wasn’t for another week that I found out she even did that because I was too busy trying to now nurse my snakes and work. So I find out people in the snake industry feel for her and I’m being defamed. I don’t have time to deal with this.

My mom was getting more and more sick and I couldn’t see her. Mother’s Day my mom was found on the ground in vomit because she didn’t have nursing staff overnight. The doctors finally said they can’t send her back home if the hospice couldn’t send 24 hour care. The next week my mother died. I’ve been told I have to get my stuff out by June first. I’m back in New York from Ohio using bereavement time to hold my job and stranded in silence with all my emotions in my dead mothers place. I have snakes that aren’t in the greatest condition to sell if I could but they have all been being fed and watered now back to way better standings. Some had some pretty bad starts and I still worry a little. But to sell a snake it takes time and money to list and do photos and ship properly. I don’t have that yet.

If in an apartment I can do that to then reduce what I have and recoup what I don’t have to get ahead.

While gone I still had back bills taking out from my account now that I was getting money again and had a phone bill and regular needs.

In the end I came back “home” with nothing and all my plans were shot and my emotions as well.

I’ve been stranded and sleeping on the floor in my moms for a few days with a car I don’t dare drive because if it gets impounded I really have nothing.

My moms town is not close to my job or anything at all really and it’s not on public transportation.

The chance at life I need is in getting an apartment and getting my car on the road. A bed would be nice too but I’ll figure that out at some point.

The car needs an oil change and it has a bad cv joint and blown heater core. It’s 20 years old with 200k miles on it.

The apartment I saw is only an 8 minute drive so that I can make happen.

I just need that chance at a real fresh start so I can keep this job I trained hard for and these animals I worked hard for and not be a let down to my child and my now deceased mother.

My last chance to be with her and have a Mother’s Day was taken and before I left I promised her I’d turn my struggles around. I’m still trying my best and this is embarrassing to ask but if I don’t then I’m not actually doing all that I can.

If you consider helping me I greatly appreciate you and I’d be more than happy to provide any information or proofs needed.

I just want a chance to become stable again so that’s what my daughter sees when we do see each other again.

Thank you for reading this and any consideration.