Help My Stepson Say Goodbye to His Mother

My name is Jackie. If you’ve ever met me, one of the first things I tell people is I had three babies but I have four kids. The baby in this picture is my bonus son, Michael, with his mother, Nicky. He’s 13 now, and devastatingly this week his heart has been broken by the sudden and unexpected death of his mother.

On February 3rd, Nicky was involved in a horrific car accident and tragically lost her life to her injuries. Devastated doesn’t begin to capture what this has done to Michael, and we are simply shattered for him. Michael loved his mother so much, and she loved him. Nothing can fix this for him, but we can help him.

The family is attempting to bring together enough money for a proper funeral and burial for Nicky. Right now, the money is simply not there. She is survived not only by Michael, but by two other children, and I deeply believe they deserve to be able to say goodbye to their mother with a proper funeral and burial. So I am here, asking for your help. I am not good at asking for help- like at all. It’s a flaw. But for my kids, I’d do anything. So I am here asking you to help Michael bury and say goodbye to his mother.

I know it’s unusual, a stepmother doing this for a stepchild’s mother. But since Nicky died, I keep replaying in my mind a night from years ago when she came to my house and sat in my living room with me. We sat on my couch and sipped wine and talked about our lives and our children and about how much we both loved Michael and only wanted the best for him. We were two moms, and in that moment it was just that simple. With Michael being with us full time, I promised her I would take care of him, and she said she trusted me with that. I am keeping that promise, and right now that means helping my bonus son say goodbye to his mother properly. This is for him.

Anything helps. If by some miracle we raise money beyond funeral costs, it will go to supporting Michael in his grief and his future.

Shares and prayers for our boy are deeply appreciated, too. Thank you so much.

Update 2/6/25:

We are blown away by the support we’ve received. Words feel so inadequate to express our gratitude for the support for our son, but thank you. We’re getting closer and closer to the being able to give Michael the chance to say goodbye to his mom properly. I’m also including a link to news coverage about the accident- I know people worry about scams and such, so I wanted to just offer that to show this loss is painfully real for my bonus son. Thank you again. And please continue to keep him and his mother’s family in your prayers.

Accident News Coverage