This is for my dear friend Karen. On May 18, 2023, her world changed as she lost the love of her life due to suicide.

Our work said they would work with her but instead cut her hours down to three days a week and then to one day a month, prior to firing her after she fell on the icy sidewalk to the front door where she broke her back. She tried to file for WC but was denied.

A year ago today, her home was sold out from under her and she has literally been homeless. Because of the obituary, these crooks prey on widows and widowers. The crooks also told the new owners they could have any of the contents of the house.

Karen was forced out of her home one year ago today, the Friday before Labor Day weekend. While trying to get moved, men that were hired stole her laptop and other belongings that were to go to a storage unit. They managed to drain her bank accounts. She can hire an attorney but needs $5k just to get the money back from the crooks who stole her entire life.

Karen sold a car to what was supposedly a friend, but she never paid her. Then she sold her other car back to where she bought it, and they gave her a later model that had more issues. She eventually sold that one as well to help her dying mother get the meds she needed for cancer.

Karen has been homeless for an entire year now. Each time she finds a place to stay, she is told she has to go, each time losing more of what little she has because she can’t move it.

Last month, Karen had back surgery, and what used to be one vertebra turned into six that needed to be fixed. One was so bad that it almost severed a nerve, and at this point, we are praying that she regains full function.

Karen will have at least one to two years to heal, but there is no guarantee that she will ever be able to work again as the doctors say she is disabled for life. They say she won’t ever be a truck driver again. At this point, she is just hoping she won’t lose her ability to walk. No definitive answers until at least one year. Not even two weeks post-op, Karen began to lose spinal fluid. Thank God that she got help right away. Doctors are still hopeful, and so we will be too. Glory all be to God.

Karen has lost so much weight that she is malnourished and has become extremely frail. Just this week, the doctors say she can get out of bed for 10 minutes every hour; prior, it was 5 minutes. The healing process will be long and difficult, but Karen is a fighter, and I keep encouraging her that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I keep telling Karen that we will sit down and write a book and make a movie one day to tell her story that we hope will help others with similar situations.

Karen does have an attorney for the lawsuit for what happened at our old job. Whenever she can get any kind of money, she can hire other attorneys to take care of the WC and disability and, of course, the people who stole her money from her banks.

The FBI is working as hard as they can to catch these criminals and hopefully retrieve her money at some point. They have actually traced some of the individuals to Nigeria. A lot cannot be done until she gets money, and since she is homeless and has no source of income, she is distraught. Karen needs to focus on herself and healing.

Karen is trying to get her tax refund from two years ago, but it’s difficult because she has to change her name, which of course costs money she doesn’t have. She is also trying to get disability, but it’s been almost two years now and no decisions yet. If she had money, she could hire an attorney to help get her on disability.

Her uncle wants to sell her a vehicle for a minimal cost, but again she has no income. No social security, no nothing. Every month she has to file for the free health insurance in order to keep it going. This breaks my heart because with everything she has been through, now she has that to deal with too.

If she can get some money, she can buy the vehicle, and at some point when the doctors say it will be okay, she plans to get to her father in another state and finally feel safe and secure. Once Karen gets there, she can still work on things to hopefully find some peace, regain her strength, and go on with whatever will turn out.

In the pictures, you will see how she once looked, and now she has lost so much weight that she is malnourished. She cannot afford to eat. It’s come to the point she has seizures.

I have witnessed most of what she has been through. My heart breaks for her, but I am so proud of how far she has come given everything she is going through.

Karen lost everything and her mother, and now she just needs to find a safe place to start anew. We pray that you can find it in your hearts to help her out. Even the smallest of donations would help. It is through God that she has come this far. Trust me, I thought on several occasions about what could happen. I am so proud of her, but I can only do so much, and creating this GoFundMe is what I hope will help her find even more will and strength to keep the fight going and hopefully get things rolling for her and to get her to her father's down south. Tonight when we talked, for the first time in a long time, I heard my friend from who she used to be. I pray that you can find it in your hearts ♥️ to donate what you can and to please share her story. I have faith that this would help her get the wheels turning and find her way back to her new normal.

Thank you for your time in reading her story and for sharing her story and/or for your donations. It will be appreciated more than you could ever know.

Thank you and God Bless You All