My 71-year-old mom, Therese Garcia, survived a brutal, life-threatening attack in her own home. She was repeatedly beaten with a metal baseball bat while she slept, leaving her with a traumatic brain injury, brain bleed, severe head and facial injuries, broken bones, and serious injuries to her eyes, arm, and hand. Now she faces a long road to recovery without health insurance.

Six days before the attack, a 26-year-old man came to my mom's home with a heartbreaking story about having all of his belongings stolen while tent camping. He told her he had an upcoming job interview, so my mom, who has always had a kind heart and tried to help others, agreed to let him stay.

She cooked for him every night and believed he was a “sweet kid” who simply needed help. But after several days, he began making demands and taking over her home. When my mom told him it was time to leave, he attacked her that night while she was sleeping on the couch. She didn't see it coming.

She was in and out of consciousness, and every time she woke up, he would beat her again. This lasted for hours. He stopped only after she completely lost consciousness and apparently believed she was dead. He then took her phone, credit cards, keys, E-bike, and other belongings and fled.

If it weren't for the neighbors calling the police, my mother would have bled to death alone in her home.

My mom has been in the hospital ever since. She has suffered a traumatic brain injury and brain bleed, multiple deep lacerations requiring extensive stitches, broken bones throughout her face, severe injuries to both eyes, and multiple broken bones in her arm and hand. She also suffered other internal injuries and spent days vomiting blood. She may need facial surgery once the swelling goes down.

Despite everything, she is still fighting.

She is medically stable and has started taking small steps, but she is still in immense pain, extremely dizzy, exhausted, and struggling with the effects of her brain injury. We don't yet know what her recovery will look like or how much care she will need once she leaves the hospital.

The person responsible has still not been found, leaving our family frightened and uncertain while we focus on keeping my mom safe and helping her recover.

Now comes the next battle: my mom has no health insurance.

We are facing overwhelming medical expenses, including hospital bills, specialists, possible surgery, rehabilitation, medications, follow-up appointments, transportation, and potentially extensive in-home care.

Our family is doing everything we can. I am her daughter, currently pregnant and caring for my one-year-old. Her son lives in New York, and her other daughter is working while raising two children. We are doing our best to balance our own families while being there for our mom through this nightmare.

We would give anything to take this pain away from her.

My mom didn't deserve this. She was simply trying to help someone she believed was in need, something she has always done throughout her life. This time, her kindness was met with unimaginable violence.

She survived. Now we want to help her truly recover.

Every donation, no matter how small, will help provide the medical care, rehabilitation, medications, transportation, and in-home assistance she needs as she begins rebuilding her life.

If you can't donate, please share this fundraiser. A share could reach someone who can help, and that means more to our family than you know.

Please keep my mom in your prayers. Pray for her healing, her strength, her vision, her recovery, and for the person responsible to be found.

We are incredibly grateful that she is still here.

She survived the night she was left to die. Now we just want to give her every possible chance to heal. ❤️‍

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading her story, praying for her, donating, sharing, or simply caring about our family during this incredibly difficult time.

Thank you for helping us fight for our mom.