I’m heartbroken to share that my mother passed away unexpectedly in Chicago. For over 17 years I’ve battled deep isolation, feeling truly alone as a single mom in Minnesota.

She was my only lifeline the one person I could call when life felt too heavy. Losing her has shattered that fragile connection forever.

I was the last person to speak with her that night around 11:16 pm. In our final conversation, she asked what her funeral would look like, and I promised her something nice.

That promise now breaks me. We hadn’t seen her in over five years, and I missed the chance to bring her here one last time. Just days earlier, my 3-year-old daughter who is on the autism spectrum had a joyful call with her grandma.

Now she keeps asking, “I want to talk to Grandma,” completely unaware. It tears my heart in pieces watching my children grieve.

I’m pregnant with my third child while raising two young ones one on level 3 of the autism spectrum and the other with a disability at age 10. The kids are devastated, crying constantly and struggling to understand.

This loss has left me in emotional shambles, amplifying years of isolation and making it even harder to make friends or find support.

Then everything twisted at once my car broke down it had to get repossessed leaving me with debt, and us with no reliable transportation in an area with almost none available. I desperately need immediate stability to get back on track grief counseling and mental health treatment to heal my shattered mind, a Montessori bed for Maleah so she stops crying and falling out at night, plus baby furniture and essentials to prepare for the new baby and comfort my grieving children.