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Help Karina with legal fees for a custody battle

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My name is Tessa and I am starting this GoFundMe account for my dear friend, Karina Martinez, as she is in a battle that needs financial backing from anyone who can help.
 
Karina is a single mother to three beautiful girls with two different dads.
 
Her older two girls live with her near SE Edmonton. Their father, David, lives four blocks away and Karina and David have a very amicable and healthy co-parenting relationship. David shares all special occasions with his girls and the co-parenting is amazingly generous to access the girls at any request as he has such a loving relationship with their daughters.
 
Unfortunately, Karina’s youngest daughter was taken away in 2018 at 5 years old in a surprise full custody battle that started 2017. She was taken away from the primary home she had known all her life and ripped away from growing up in day-to-day life with her two older sisters that adore her.
 
How did this happen? Firstly, she did not have the financial resources to make it a fair fight. Secondly, coinciding near the beginning of the custody battle, Karina was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has now had two rounds of breast cancer. The first round was worse than the second, but both have been extremely scary. She had to have a full mastectomy of her left breast in 2018, then in 2021 she had to have another tumor removed on the same side. She has also undergone radiation and will receive ongoing treatments likely for years to come to keep the cancer at bay. Though not deemed in remission, she is living a healthy active lifestyle to keep her body and mind as healthy as possible.
 
This brutal custody battle would have been difficult in the best of circumstances but with cancer in the mix the struggle has been overwhelming. Due largely to this awful combo, she is struggling financially and cannot continue paying legal fees without help. Just for this junction she is looking at close to $40,000 in legal fees. As a single working mom she has no way to make this kind of money up on her own.
 
Because she is in and out of the courts, I can’t disclose specific details of the situation but rest assured, she has an extremely strong case.
 
This has been a difficult couple years financially for many people, if you cannot contribute but want to help, please share this GoFundMe story. If you can donate, every bit - big or small, matters greatly. Making the full 40k is a longshot, but I know Karina and her daughters will be overjoyed by anything that helps to get her youngest home.

**UPDATE: So grateful that the costs have been significantly reduced, so the goal has been changed to $15,000
 
 
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    Organizer and beneficiary

    Tessa Mulcair
    Organizer
    Edmonton, AB
    Karina Martinez
    Beneficiary
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