On 5 November, my son and I survived a serious road accident in rural Ireland. Our beloved Land Rover Discovery Sport was badly damaged, and we have been warned that it may be written off.

As a 50-year-old single mother living in rural Ireland with chronic illness, supporting a son with additional educational needs and facing uncertainty about our home, losing our reliable transport has placed us in an incredibly difficult position after many years of facing difficulties.

With no family financial support or savings to fall back on, I am asking for help with emergency expenses, temporary transport, possible medical costs and, if necessary, a contribution towards a safe replacement vehicle.

Our initial fundraising goal is €10,000 while we await the insurance assessment. Every donation or share would mean the world to us.

***

More Than Four Wheels: The Roads We Travelled, the Memories We Made, and the Journey Ahead

On 5 November 2026, my son and I were involved in a serious road accident in rural County Sligo, Ireland. While we were crossing a junction, our beloved Land Rover Discovery Sport was struck by another vehicle, sustaining substantial side-impact damage. The side-curtain airbag deployed, and emergency services attended.

We were incredibly fortunate to survive and walk away from the accident. However, the physical discomfort, emotional shock and exhaustion have taken their toll, and we are now facing unexpected expenses and considerable uncertainty about the weeks ahead.

I'm a 50-year-old single mother, living with chronic illness, with no family financial support or savings to fall back on. Right now, my son and I are facing circumstances that I simply cannot manage alone.

More than just a car

I'd like to say we're finally home, but home has always been such a fragile and uncertain thing for us.

Through some of the hardest and loneliest chapters of our lives, there was one constant: our beloved Land Rover Discovery Sport.

She was never just a car. She was our companion, our faithful friend and a little piece of security in an uncertain world.

She carried my son and me across Ireland, along country roads, through beautiful landscapes and to places filled with memories. Every journey held a story. Every little thing inside her belonged to our small world.

I worked incredibly hard to pay for her, and she was lovingly maintained and recently serviced. Only weeks before the accident, I had invested in new tyres and serviced her, never imagining that we might soon lose her altogether.

The photograph accompanying this appeal was taken on 13 October 2026, the anniversary of the arrest of the Knights Templar in France in 1307. She was parked outside St Mary's, a place very close to my heart that we had visited many times over the years. We also used to live down the road from it when we first moved to Ireland, until we were forced to move in 2019 due to our landlord selling our rental home.

I never imagined it might be one of our last photographs together.

Our circumstances have already been difficult for some time, and we are currently facing considerable uncertainty about our home and housing situation. With no family financial support or safety net to fall back on, the possibility of losing our reliable transport as well has been particularly devastating.

Living in rural Ireland where roads can be quote dangerous, a safe and reliable car is essential for everyday life, medical appointments, my son's education and our independence. It also allows me to continue visiting historic places that have been part of my life and independent research for over a decade, while exploring new ones in the years ahead.

Our Land Rover represented something precious: freedom, safety, security and the reassurance that, whatever difficulties we faced, we could still get where we needed to go.

Now even that sense of stability feels uncertain.

The insurance company has advised me to prepare for the possibility that our car will be written off. Its assessment is still pending, and we do not yet know whether any settlement will be sufficient to obtain a safe and reliable replacement.

In the meantime, temporary transport is only available for a limited period of days, and unexpected expenses are already mounting.

I'm grateful beyond words that my son and I survived.

But gratitude doesn't make grief disappear.

I am mourning a faithful companion, all the roads we travelled together and the journeys I thought we still had ahead of us.

Some things are worth so much more than their monetary value.

Rebuilding our lives, one step at a time

The accident comes after several exceptionally difficult years.

History has been a lifelong passion and an enduring part of my intellectual and personal journey. My involvement in historical research stretches back more than three decades, including my early university studies in Law and History in Madrid.

For many years, I pursued much of this work independently, alongside my professional career in languages, translation and other specialist fields.

I previously ran a translation business, which was destroyed by the pandemic in 2023. Following the loss of my livelihood, I returned to university in 2024 as a mature student and completed a master's degree in Public History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Limerick. Despite my ongoing Hashimoto's condition and difficult circumstances, I worked extremely hard during my MA and internship and was awarded this postgraduate degree with honours in early January 2026.

That experience allowed me to build upon decades of historical study and research and, more recently, begin establishing a new independent livelihood centred on my longstanding interests in history, cultural heritage, writing and education.

My work is devoted to recovering overlooked histories, preserving neglected heritage and giving a voice back to those whom history has forgotten.

It is work I love deeply, and I have continued to pursue it despite considerable financial and personal difficulties.

For anyone unfamiliar with my work, you can learn more about my research, publications and teaching through my website and my professional profile at the College of Psychic Studies in London:

My website: My website (which I built myself)

College of Psychic Studies Profile: College of Psychic Studies Profile

But building a sustainable livelihood takes time, and the unexpected loss of reliable transport has placed an enormous additional burden on us.

Supporting my son's future

My son is approaching an important transition as he prepares for university.

Following a recent assessment by the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS), we are navigating significant attention and learning difficulties, with secondary ADHD associated with a previous traumatic brain injury which he experienced when he was a toddler.

These challenges affect his education, social life and everyday needs. They also mean that he requires additional understanding, practical support and educational resources, potentially including assistive technology as he progresses into higher education.

As his mother and sole caregiver, I am doing everything within my means to give him the opportunities, stability and support he deserves.

I also live with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, a chronic autoimmune condition that makes managing the physical and emotional demands of our circumstances particularly challenging and I'm a cervical cancer survivor (had surgery in 2019), though survivor does not mean I have no issues.

But I am also a fighter, and at age 50, having worked so hard to rebuild a stable future for us, I never imagined finding myself facing another crisis of this magnitude.

With no family or a partner support to rely upon, I am trying to navigate the aftermath of the accident, manage my health, support my son's educational needs and keep our lives moving forward.

Why we are asking for help

Asking for assistance is not something that comes naturally to me.

I have spent much of my life working independently, raising my son, sharing knowledge, helping others and trying to preserve the stories of those whose voices have been forgotten.

But sometimes, however hard we work, life places us in circumstances we cannot overcome entirely on our own.

I am setting an initial fundraising goal of €10,000 to help my son and me through the aftermath of this accident, meet unexpected emergency expenses and, if necessary, contribute towards a safe and reliable replacement family vehicle.

Any donations will help towards:

- Emergency expenses already incurred, including unexpected additional accommodation and transport costs.

- Temporary car hire and essential travel while our vehicle's future remains uncertain.

- Medical assessments, treatment and recovery costs arising from the accident, where needed.

- Necessary insurance and vehicle-related expenses.

- A contribution towards obtaining a safe and reliable replacement family vehicle if ours cannot be repaired and the insurance settlement proves insufficient, plus any extra expenses associated with the loss and replacement of our vehicle.

The insurance process is ongoing. We do not yet know whether our car can be repaired, whether it will be declared a total loss or what compensation may be available. Insurer has told me to prepare for the worst (my car written off). I may never see her again.

I will keep supporters updated as the situation becomes clearer and account for any costs subsequently reimbursed by insurance.

Our initial €5,000 target is intended to help with the most immediate emergency needs. It does not represent the full potential cost of replacing our vehicle, which remains unknown.

Every act of kindness matters

I know that times are difficult for many people, and I would never want anyone to give more than they can comfortably afford.

But if my research, lectures, writing or efforts to preserve forgotten history or work in psychology have ever brought you knowledge, inspiration, a new perspective or helped you, I hope you might consider helping us through this difficult chapter.

Whether you can contribute €5, €10, €20 or whatever you can comfortably spare, every donation would make a genuine difference.

And if you are unable to contribute financially, simply sharing this fundraiser with your friends, colleagues or community would be an enormous kindness. Contributing and sharing this post could make a huge difference in our life.

I have spent so much of my life trying to give a voice to those forgotten by history and helping all who cross my path.

Today, I find myself in the unfamiliar position of needing to ask for help myself.

My son and I are deeply grateful that we survived. Now we are trying to recover, regain our independence and find our way towards a little stability again.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading our story, for caring and for reminding us that kindness still exists.

With love and heartfelt gratitude,

Helena B. Scott ❤️