I fought for my life against severe abuse when I was a child, only to discover that escaping wasn't enough. In 2023 I found myself battling a mysterious neurological illness and facing a terminal diagnosis. My doctors in Oregon gave me little hope, bladder, heart and kidney failure combined with vicious infections had come for my life. Through a series of chance and miracles, I ended up at Mayo clinic in Phoenix AZ. There, a surgeon with a brave idea and the compassion to help me fight for my life, suggested a rare sacral neural implant. That implant saved my life, but the impact of that journey nearly bankrupted my little family. We lived for 2 more years, barely holding onto our home, and facing food scarcity every day. Through seven surgeries and half a dozen trips to AZ, we persevered and kept our home.

Then, in June of 2025 I woke up, unable to swallow, with a debilitating headache that nearly blinded me from pain. Once again, Oregon doctors offered no help. I was rushed to Mayo clinic again, this time by a family friend who drove for 22 hours to help save my life. When I arrived, I'd lost the ability to blink, swallow or smile on my own. Half my face was paralyzed and on the last leg of the journey, I thought I'd die somewhere in the heat of Death Valley.

I survived that day, but I was in a medical crisis and immediately admitted to Mayo clinic observation. There, I was stabilized. After almost 2 weeks of not eating solid foods I was also in a viral and bacterial flare-up. Lurking below all that, was a spinal cord injury that had been missed for FIFTEEN years. It would be six weeks before I was stable enough for major surgery to save me from total paralysis. During that time, my husband quit his job, and he and my children joined me here in Arizona. On July 28th, I rolled into the surgery suite again, this time to rebuild my neck before it choked off my spinal cord.

Since then, we have been living at an extended stay hotel, while we recover from this unnatural disaster. Back in Oregon, a house sitter destroyed my home, and abused my disabled family members. The person I trusted, turned out to be dangerous. Now we face the future and it looms unknown. My husband has secured a job in Scottsdale, AZ but hasn't started yet. He wasn't even able to try finding work for months, because I was too fragile to be left alone with my children. Now, we can see a better future here in the reach of my healers at Mayo clinic. I know I'm supposed to be here, not ONLY to heal, but to build something better, and safer for myself and my family. We have lost nearly everything in this fight for my life. The children's belongings sit forgotten at home. I brought three days worth of clothes and have been here for 120 days. My car is parked in front of my home back in Oregon, and the family van is on its last legs here in AZ.

My medical procedures were covered but my family and friends travelled 35,000 miles and I endured 8 surgeries plus the needed recovery. During this time I saw 44 different medical specialists and doctors, the travel, the food, the lost wages and the medical supplies I needed have burdened my family with debt, previously to this, neither my husband or I ever even had a credit card.

I am grateful for my life, every single day, but I struggle with a terrible survivors guilt. My children shouldn't have to go hungry so that I can live. We shouldn't have to be homeless so I can access the doctors that keep me alive. We are facing homlessness within the next week, and every program has turned us away. I do not deserve to die of abuse or medical neglect. I'm hoping when people read this story and see everything I have survived and everything my family has sacrificed to keep me alive, that you might be inspired to help us rebuild. Right now, my children have been in a hotel suite for over 4 months. We miss our home in Oregon more than I could ever express, but I cannot survived there. Please help us rebuild anew, here, in a desert full of healers... where I'm meant to be.