Help a Mother and Son Escape Domestic Violence

Trigger Warning: Abuse, SA, DV

Statement from the Mother:

This is a call for help. For the past 3.5 years, I have done my absolute best to be strong, brave, resilient, smart, and to fight. Reason and logic hold no sway with the dangers at hand. Meeting in the middle is a beast of myth at this point, and I've been chasing it for far too long. For a little over a year, I've planned on how to best do what a mother's instinct screams to do: protect the most precious thing in my life, my 3-year-old son.

I've spent 11 years in my local community making a difference and creating as many opportunities as I could for those who are unheard, unseen, and unloved. To amplify the voices of the people who felt theirs had been stripped away and silenced. Now I need you to hear my story. I refuse to be silenced. I have so many more voices to unbury. I am not finished.

Fate has some very twisted ways of changing our lives, whether for better or worse. Behind the closed doors of the house I thought I had made home, this fate was worse. The man I once trusted has spiraled into a darkness fueled by constant liquid courage. Hands no longer just a threat but a weapon. No longer just a threat but a promise. The bruises may fade, but the lingering fear is ever-present—never knowing which version of him will walk through the door each night.

I have been preparing, strategizing, saving, and searching for a way to ensure we don't just escape but that we survive. That we can stay in the house that should be called home, safe from fear, violence, and chaos untamable. The monster isn't under the bed. It's been in a delusional and rage-filled stupor right in our faces, screaming and growing bigger every day. Threatening my son and me like helpless prisoners and constantly preaching the phrase "I piss excellence" with pure narcissism.

I've found a lawyer who specializes in domestic violence cases and is ready to help us finally break free. The retainer fee is $10,000. I have fought tooth and nail to save half the amount, but time is running out. He refuses to mediate and is forcing us to take it to court. My lawyer is hesitant to continue defending us without a payment plan secured. Our abuser is no stranger to intimidation, socially isolating me from loved ones, and sabotaging my small business, along with verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. Now that I'm this far, it's come down to him using the courts as a tool to financially control, drain, and continue to abuse me. I've looked down every avenue I can think of and checked every local resource available to me. As a mother and community leader, I officially need to ask for the help of others. I want to show my son it's okay to ask for help when you can't do things alone anymore.

Many people understandably ask the question, "Why doesn't she just leave?" Anyone who is or who has been trapped in this reality knows—it never is and never will be simple. Walking away without a plan means walking into a world of unknown dangers, unprepared for any of it. I have to do this the right way, the safest way—for my son, for our future, and mostly for his future.

This is your chance to help save us. A dollar or $100. It doesn't matter. It all helps bring us closer to safety and home. Every donation will help provide me with the means and renewed strength to keep fighting until the very end. If you've ever wanted or wished to make a difference in someone's life—this is it. Please, consider donating. Help me open the path to safety for my child and me. Let us know that our voices, though silenced now, are still heard.

No one that has fought alongside others should have to fight alone.