My name is Kayla, and I am starting this GoFundMe in hopes of saving the home that my five children (ages 7–17) and I live in.

We’ve never been a family that was well off. It often feels like we’ve always had to fight for the basics. I sometimes joke that my life goal is simply to afford my kids’ school supplies every year — and once I get there, I’ll know I’ve made it.

The past few years have been especially difficult. In 2022, my marriage of 15 years ended, and shortly after, due to the significant emotional trauma, I developed non-epileptic stress seizures. Because of the seizures, my job did not want me working until doctors could determine what was happening, and I did not qualify for unemployment. The small savings I had managed to build during my divorce were quickly depleted as I focused on keeping my children fed, housed, and stable. It took many months of treatment and learning how to manage my condition before I could function normally again.

During this time, due to housing and safety concerns, the parenting schedule was changed so that my children are with me every school night — and they have been for the past three years. I’ve been solely responsible for getting five kids bathed, fed, medicated, homework done, and out the door for school each morning. It has been exhausting, but it was what my children needed for their physical and mental wellbeing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

In 2024, I lost my job as a massage therapist just two weeks after returning from physician-recommended medical leave due to worsening wrist pain. Massage therapy was something I loved — caring for people was never “just a job” to me — but my body could no longer handle the physical demands. Losing that income caused yet another setback.

Still, I kept pushing forward. I tried to create stability by opening a small business, hoping it would allow me to support my children and finally gain some financial footing. In 2025, a planned partnership and business support fell apart unexpectedly, leaving me to shoulder the financial burden alone. At the same time, the economic climate has been extremely challenging for small businesses, especially new ones. Despite working morning to night, picking up extra cleaning jobs, and even donating plasma to help make ends meet, it hasn’t been enough to undo the financial strain of the past few years.

We’ve relied on SNAP for a long time, and without it, I wouldn’t be able to feed my kids. They are incredible children — kind, resilient, funny, hard working, and compassionate — and I am so proud to be their mom. I would do anything for them.

Which brings me here.

I have a deadline to qualify for our mortgage on my own by March 2026 in order to assume it into my name. If I cannot, we will be forced to sell our home.

We’ve lived here for seven years, and over the past two, it’s become the first place in my 38 years that has truly felt like home. My kids have friends nearby. They love their schools. They love this house — even though most people would consider it too small for a family of six. It isn’t fancy, and it needs work, but it’s ours. This is their safe place, the one constant they’ve had through years of upheaval.

If we are forced to sell, I won’t be able to purchase another home. Renting even a small three-bedroom apartment would cost hundreds of dollars more each month than my current mortgage, even with assistance. That would likely mean changing schools — possibly even towns/states — and completely uprooting my children’s lives. They have already lost so much, far more than what I’m putting into words here, however, I want to protect their privacy.

I want to be clear: this is not about being unable to afford our home. I have continued making the payments, even while handling everything alone. This is about qualifying under the mortgage company’s formula after years of medical issues, job loss, and financial hardship. No matter how hard I work, if my numbers don’t meet their requirements, I don’t qualify.

I know I haven’t failed my kids — not really. But it’s hard not to feel that way sometimes when you’ve given everything you have and it still isn’t enough. My children don’t know how close we are to losing our home, and I want to keep it that way for as long as I can. They deserve to feel safe, secure, and loved — and to experience no more loss.

I’m not asking for an easy way out. This is my fighting chance — my hail Mary — to keep the home my children feel safe in and continue building the stable life I’ve worked so hard to create for them. Any help, whether through donations, shares, or words of encouragement, truly means more than I can say.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading, for caring, and for helping me fight to keep our home.