Donate to Rebuild Kim and Abby's Lives

Dear friends and kindhearted visitors who pass this way,

I am reaching out on behalf of my dear friend Kimberly Glass, one of the most big-hearted, giving, and self-sufficient people I've ever known.

Kim was born with type III Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI or more commonly, brittle bone disorder), and immediately one would think the odds stacked against her from the start. But this condition has never slowed her down, nor has she worn it as a badge of need or pity. But her life with OI is not why I reach out today. It is the dire circumstances that began last year as a result of many taking advantage of her in this situation.

Kim has always worked and provided for her daughter Abby, also born with OI, but as fate would have it, not the same type as her mother. A one in a million chance. But like mother like daughter, Abby is as resolved and independent as her mother. Sadly an unfortunate turn last year left mother and daughter facing terrifying hardship. After 20 years with her high school sweetheart, and father of their then seven-year-old Abby, he abandoned them for another woman, moving out and stranding them in a financial bind as Kim had to leave work to care for her daughter. Despite the health risks of Kim being wheelchair-bound and his daughter needing regular medical procedures for OI, he turned his back on them stating their condition was hindering his life.

Kim was forced to reach out for the first time for assistance with basic dignity and quality of life necessities such as bathing, eating, and caring for Abby and her delicate situation. With no family to help, gracious communities and churches responded. But the help was limited and sporadic. She then contacted a care giving service for more consistent and immediate help until she could get back on track. Sadly, the care system is overburdened and understaffed, and Kim accepted what was immediate offered. This was a caregiver who revealed herself to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Kim welcomed this woman into her and Abby's home, with pay, amenities and a place to rest if needed. Within a week, things deteriorated. The caregiver ceased helping, instead moving her personal belongings in, sneaking people into Kim and Abby's home, and neglecting them both. This soon escalated when the apartment manager informed Kim of complaints from other residents that the caregiver was selling drugs from Kim's home, inviting a dangerous element into their lives. When confronting the woman, Kim and Abby's safety was threatened with physical violence if Kim attempted to call the authorities. Added to this, Kim discovered that the caregiver had been stealing her bank card and siphoning her income, leaving her near penniless. Unable to pay rent Kim and Abby were forced to flee Reno, Nevada, with Abby and only the clothes on her back.

She reached out to her father in California. He took his daughter and granddaughter into his home. Unbeknownst to Kim, living with her father and his wife, Kim's stepmother, would become a nightmare that would last a year. Her father and stepmother had fallen into a deep, destructive alcoholism, depression, and a storm of unpredictable mood swings. Mother and daughter went from one toxic frying pan to another. Kim suffered several life-threatening breaks, went unbathed for months, malnourished and sometimes unfed for days, and once again had what little money she was able to save stolen from her by her stepmother with threats of being thrown out. Kim had even lost her only mode of transportation as her parents let her electric wheelchair fall into disuse.

After a year in misery and squalor, Kim and Abby were forced yet again to flee, and sadly she had to implore Abby's father to help if anyone at all, his own daughter. Begrudgingly he has but making it expressly clear only temporarily. Now Kim and Abby reside in Reno again as of this writing. Though the situation is an improvement, it is still dire. With her weakened condition, her health took a severe hit, and she has been hospitalized several times since moving back, most recently with Influenza type A that has her bedridden and on oxygen. She is getting much better, but she needs to be back on her own with Abby in a safe home with proper care service so she can look for viable work to provide for her daughter and herself and their future. I have known Kim for over 4 years, and it's heartbreaking to see her, as it is to see anyone, forced into this time of need by abuse, neglect, and those who claim to be family, yet act in a manner that does not resemble what family means.

If you have any help you can provide to get Abby and Kim into a new and safe place to live so they can recover, get the care and basics to take care of themselves and continue Abby's medical procedures, it would be a gift beyond appreciated.

Thank you all!

For more information on Osteogenesis Imperfecta please visit:

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/osteogenesis-imperfecta