After two decades exposing abuse, institutional failure, and corruption as an investigative journalist, Mike Russell is now fighting for his own life—and for his 4-year-old son, Caleb. They’ve escaped a dangerous, ongoing situation of abuse and coercive control, but are now without housing, income, or safety. This fundraiser will help them survive and rebuild.

Full Story:

This is the hardest post I’ve ever written. But I need to—and I need your help.

After 20 years fighting for others—investigating preventable deaths like Tim Hague’s and Ardi Ndembo’s, exposing abuse, giving families answers—I’m now fighting for my own life, and for my 4-year-old son, Caleb.

I’ve built my career on exposing cracks in systems that are supposed to protect people and confronting the corruption that allows abuse to continue unchecked. But now, I’m living the kind of story I used to report.

Two winters ago, I was violently thrown down a flight of stairs by my now ex. It could’ve killed me. The impact worsened a pre-existing torn disc I suffered at my last job, leaving me with a documented disability that causes chronic pain and limits mobility. She was only charged last month—only with simple assault, not what it really was.

Before that, I returned home after days of living in my car—escaping her verbal and psychological attacks—to find our toddler Caleb wandering alone. TVs were blaring. She was passed out drunk. I tried to get her family to intervene. They wouldn’t.

Over time, her tactics became more covert: she switched from alcohol to weed and non-alcoholic drinks and insisted she was sober, while the emotional and psychological abuse intensified. I wasn’t allowed to eat food in the house. I wasn’t allowed to turn on heat in my “office”—a storage closet where I sometimes slept. I hid in there, curled up in pain, passing blood and barely moving, while her family hosted dinners a few feet away. I didn’t know the water was contaminated until it made me sick. It’s now under government investigation.

She stalked my social media, took obsessive notes about women I interacted with—even colleagues and family—and slowly cut me off from my friends, my older kids, my livelihood. She hid my medication, interfered with my care, and left me dependent.

I tried to report her. I tried to leave. But the systems I counted on did nothing.

She destroyed my work: 20 years of journalism, records, interviews, research, and personal items. Photos of my kids. My grandfather’s irreplaceable vinyl collection. Personal notes on Tim Hague's public death inquiry. Gone—ruined in the elements, left out on purpose.

I had stayed to try and help her heal. I believed love could help her change. Instead, I lost everything.

After she left, she disconnected our internet and left Caleb and me without food, income, or access to services. She still controls government benefits meant for him. I’ve begged OPP, Child and Family Services, and the Ontario Ombudsman for help. No one has acted. My own extended family turned away.

Now I walk over 4 km a day, Caleb strapped to my injured back, just to access clean water and internet at the local library. Even UFC legend Mark Hunt warned me about her. He said, “She might poison you.”

I’ve always fought for justice—for people who had no voice. I’m still trying to finish a major investigation into the death of Ardi Ndembo and other dangerous failures in the fight world. But now, I’m also fighting to protect my son—and we need help.

Even $10 brings us closer to safety: housing, food, legal aid, water testing, healing—and a future.

If you’ve followed my work…If you believe in justice…If you want to help Caleb and I escape this nightmare…

Please donate or share.

I don’t want pity. I want justice. And I want to keep fighting—for him.

Thank you for reading.

—Mike & Caleb ❤️✊️