
DV Recovery Fund for Naval Veteran
Donation protected

TW: DV, graphic photos

Many of you know my sibling, Lauren, from school, the Navy, or from all of the silly shenanigans I dragged her to. For those of you who don’t know her, Lauren is hilarious. Seriously, she’s the funniest human being I know. Anyone who’s spent time with her will tell you the same. She’s also an unfailingly kind and generous human being, who has always gone out of her way to take care of the people she loves. Whether it means paying their electricity bill or driving 8hrs one way just to spend a weekend, she’s a natural nurturer. And did I mention she's a total goofball?

She joined the Navy right out of High School and served as a corpsman until she was medically retired 2 years ago. She decided to waste no time in using her GI bill to go back to school and chase her dream: medicine. She was approved for funding to pursue a doctoral program to become a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and enrolled at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. But new cities are lonely places, and with most of her friends and family hours away, it felt all the lonelier.

That is, until she met a girl and fell in love, thinking that it was something that could last forever. But it wasn’t meant to be. A series of events unfolded last fall that left Lauren out of school and totally isolated from her friends and everyone in our family except me. This created the perfect set of circumstances for abuse to flourish. What started as every couple’s snips and snipes soon took a much uglier turn, and by the time it was all said and done one of them would be having an emergency MRI/CT and the other would be on the run.

On June, 30 2020, Lauren was the victim of an assault by her significant other. Her spouse left bite marks all over her body. She was punched and kicked repeatedly in the head, at one point being beaten with a bat. Lauren was also held in a choke hold until she nearly lost consciousness. I was on the phone with her while this transpired and I could hear my sister begging to be released because she couldn't breathe. Throughout the ordeal she struggled to escape. I heard her sob and plead for her life, while screaming for help. After being released by her assailant, she went to the other room to call 911, but didn't realize she had dropped it in the attack. That was when the call ended for me. From what she told me after, she went back for her phone and her attacker followed her to continue the abuse. The entire assault was recorded, thankfully, but I’m equally thankful none of you will ever have to hear it.

Lauren was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with several contusions, fractured left orbital, two cheekbone fractures, traumatic brain injury, and her braces sliced through her lip. She had to have her lip cut free from the braces with scissors in the emergency department so they could sew the wound closed. During the assault and later medical treatment, Lauren’s braces were horribly damaged. A week later, and she is still covered in bruises all over her body. Today she finally got to see her orthodontist and a fracture to her jaw was discovered, so she will have to wait 5 more weeks before they can fix her braces.

In the ER, her wounds were so extensive that the beautiful women doing triage felt compelled to expose themselves to the risk of COVID-19 to walk around the counters and hug Lauren, who had not fully grasped the reality of what had just transpired. To the women who hugged Lauren when no one else could, for showing her love and kindness when she most needed it, thank you!

Lauren’s attacker has made multiple threats to her life, even stating that she would put a hit out on her if she reported the assault. Because of this, Lauren no longer feels safe living in the home they’ve shared for the last year, where the assault occurred.

But she feels trapped, lost, hopeless, and terrified because her abuser left her in dire financial straits, even being so petty as to steal all of the phone chargers and cleaning supplies from their home. The VA will thankfully cover some of her medical bills, but she doesn’t know how she’s going to pay these extra orthodontist bills, retain a lawyer, fix the extensive damage that was done to their apartment during the altercation (or lose her deposit), replace the furniture that was damaged or vindictively destroyed, and find the money to move.

Right now, we are focused on Lauren’s recovery and helping her to move forward, with a fresh start in a new place. She’s resting and healing in an undisclosed location for her safety. The day after the assault, she was able to reconnect with some friends who were able to come support her. But she’s too ashamed to ask for help, so I’m asking for her because we can’t get her to safety without it.
I created this with the hopes that those of you who read it, and are in a position to do so, will contribute what you can. It’s cliche, but true, that every little bit helps. And if you can’t contribute now, please share. I’ve seen people work miracles with this platform, and we could sure use one. Lauren is kind, beautiful, loving, and funny. Help me bring her home. I know that when she sees the love that she has put into this world come back to her in this time of need it will fill her heart to bursting. Will you help me show her that love shouldn’t come with strings and there are people in this world who really do care?
Thank you for reading, for caring, and for doing whatever you can to help. From prayers to donations, everything is appreciated right now.
Organizer and beneficiary
Ciara Carver
Organizer
Cleveland, GA
Lauren Myers
Beneficiary