Help Gift Financial Stability To My Disabled Mom

THIS FUNDRAISER WILL NOW BE LEFT OPEN AFTER CHRISTMAS 2021 FOR ANYONE WHO WISHES TO DONATE IN THE FUTURE!

TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED FOR CHRISTMAS: $3,450

ABOUT THE FUNDRAISER:

Hi, my name is Blake Tonquest and I am raising funds for my mother, Kim Banschbach Tonquest, who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the Winter of 2015. Since sustaining this injury, her life has taken a full 180. She cannot work, she cannot leave home much at all, and she cannot do simple tasks that other people can without having to recharge for hours or even days. She can't even do normal activities she loved to do before like going to church on a regular basis, going to concerts, and even driving whenever she wants to (she has to find a ride if at all possible; driving herself is an emergency last resort). All of the symptoms that she experiences on a daily basis can be found on her TBI ID card:

 

 

As mentioned before, she cannot work. She has been ordered by her doctors to not pursue a job of any kind at this point in time. Because of this, she is on disability pay and is receiving social security benefits for my brother who has not yet graduated high school. These are the only two things she has been approved for. This totals up to $1600 USD a month. However, when my brother graduates high school this coming Spring, she will lose $600 of that income and will be down to just $1000 a month. This terrifies both her and me. When she drops down to this much, she risks losing the house she, myself, and my brother grew up in, her two cats which she loves dearly, and the overall ability to live comfortably.

 

I plan on helping her financially when I graduate with an engineering degree and (hopefully) find a full-time job straight out of college, but that is over a year and a half away and is not completely certain. This Christmas, I want to give her the gift of financial stability and provide her money that she can live comfortably with until I graduate. My goal is to raise $5,000 for her by Christmas of 2021. I know this is a daring goal, but my mother could really use this blessing and I believe anything is possible. I also plan on giving her $1,700 of my own money that I have raised on top of any amount that has been donated.

 

I usually help her budget her funds from time to time anyways since her TBI sometimes prevents her from doing so properly so I will see to it that any funds received from this fundraiser will ONLY be spent on necessities like the mortgage on the house, utilities, food, and her medical expenses.

 

Any donations received will mean more than the world to me. I love my mom more than life itself and it honestly pains me to see her struggle like this and worry so much about the future on an almost daily basis. She has done everything for my brother and me despite all of the circumstances she has had to deal with throughout our lives. Even with her disability's limitations, she has pushed through to attend as many events as she possibly can that are important to me and my brother even though she would pay the price for it over the following days or weeks through unbearable symptoms. She is my hero and I want to repay her for that. I want to give her the absolute best Christmas gift that anyone has ever given her because she needs it and absolutely deserves it. Anything helps whether it is a donation big or small or even just sharing this with the people around you. If you do share this on social media and are friends with her, make sure the post is hidden from her. I want to keep this a surprise.

 

The plan is to give the funds to her in the form of a check while we are exchanging gifts this year. I plan on writing the name of everyone who donated on the card that the check is put into. I will make sure to update on here with pictures when this happens!

 

If you want to learn more about my mom's story, check out this article from Tulsa Kids Magazine about her TBI experience: https://www.tulsakids.com/green-country-grown-up-kim-tonquest/

 

I also want this campaign to act as a way of spreading #TBIAwareness! Not much is known about people who live with this invisible disability and I hope this fundraiser helps others become more aware of this devastating type of injury!

 

Here are some pictures of my mother right after her fall (before she even knew she sustained a TBI) and her getting her first at-home EEG scan done.

 

 

 

 

P.S. The cover photo for this campaign is a picture I took of her and me back in 2015 a couple of days after she was admitted into the hospital. I found her unconscious on the floor in our home. This was the day we found out she had a TBI that the doctors had overlooked after her initial fall. The picture makes me want to smile and cry at the same time because despite the circumstances, she (as usual) smiled through it for the sake of my brother and me. If that doesn't show you how strong and loving she is, I don't know what will. I love you, Mom, and I hope this ends up being your best Christmas yet.