Help a Mother in Recovery Rebuild from Devastating Break In

Life hasn’t been simple, nor has it been easy. As I am sure, it hasn’t been easy for many of you. My story involves becoming a mom at 15 to twin daughters, struggling with being bipolar, struggling with addiction, and dealing with daily anxiety, depression, and grief. Every day I deal with feelings of being unworthy, worthless, and feeling like a failure as a mom, a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a friend, and most importantly, a human being.

For the past few months, I have been working hard to be better. I started therapy, am in a recovery program, and try to be just a little bit better today than I was yesterday. I’ve worked so hard to create and provide a safe and stable home for my girls, myself, and our four beloved cats. This has been the first and only place that I have finally made, what myself and my daughters feel, is a home. Lately, with all the ups and downs, twists, turns, and obstacles that life has thrown my way, I push through with one goal in mind: to provide myself and my girls with a healthy life filled with love, security, and joy for my family.

I am used to setbacks popping up in my life, but today’s setback has left me discouraged, frustrated, and quite frankly, emotionally and mentally drained.

Today, February 1st, 2025, I discovered that someone had broken into our home. They ransacked the entire house, from my room to my daughters'. Stealing everything from rent money to my daughters’ vacation fund (something we’d been saving for together for months), along with makeup, electronics, clothes, jewelry, etc. They destroyed my furniture, my belongings; I mean, the list of materialistic things they unleashed chaos on goes on. But what hurts the most, what frustrates me the most, is the fact that they not only stole materialistic things from us, but they stole the one thing that truly matters: the peace and safety of our home.

My back door camera caught the masked intruder trying to enter my apartment, but when they realized it was locked, they climbed through a window where my air conditioning unit had been placed. They broke the window seal and caused damage as they entered. While examining the video, I noticed the person breaking in was also wearing brass knuckles. Thankfully, no one was home at the time of the break-in, and luckily they didn’t harm my four beautiful fur babies. But I can't help but wonder: if I had been there, just how different this whole situation could have been. If I had been home, just how different my plea for help would be.

The financial loss is taking a massive toll, totaling about $2250. Right now, I work as an Uber Eats driver, and every penny I make is stretched thin—going toward rent, groceries, bills, car payments, insurance, and basic necessities. When you have gone from having nothing and have managed to build something that holds so much meaning, so much promise, and so much hope, it’s truly paralyzing to think you are seconds away from losing it all.

That’s where you all come in. I’m reaching out to my community for help. I’ve come to the realization that I don’t have to do everything alone. I know this may seem only like a minor setback to some; however, it is an enormous setback for me.

If you are in a position to help me get back some of the money that was taken, I would be forever grateful. Your kindness would make a world of difference, and it would allow me to keep my home and keep our little world intact.

I understand times are tough for everyone right now, and if you can’t donate, that is okay. Just sharing this page, with the hope that we reach someone who can help, would mean just as much.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading, for caring, and for supporting us during this incredibly difficult time.

With gratitude,

Delanie Ishak