Help Rachel and Sadie Find Safety

My name is Conner and I’m running this fundraiser on behalf of Rachel. She’s the most extraordinary person I’ve ever met, and we’re trying to save her life.

I’ll cut right to the chase: Rachel has spent her entire life trapped with a bigoted, violent, and chronically abusive family. Her dog, Sadie, has been subject to a similar level of mistreatment despite her best efforts. Moreover, Rachel is trans, and has been unable to acquire any kind of gender-affirming care due to the intervention of said family. The purpose of this fundraiser (and our greatest hope) is to raise enough money to ensure that all of these problems can be solved with as little additional stress for her as possible.

It is difficult to summarize the extent and breadth of what she’s gone through. Rachel was pulled out of the education system before high school due to her mother’s fear of “indoctrination” and has, consequently, lived with her entire life regulated around the whims of a far-right QAnon conspiracy theorist. She has been physically isolated from the outside world, and until recently, could only go anywhere if her mother allowed her to. She has rarely, if ever, been able to exercise any kind of autonomy - her first (and last) appointment with a counsellor over Zoom had her mother listening through the door. She was not allowed to have another.

But this is just what Rachel experiences on a good day. Being a far-right conspiracy theorist, her mother is deluded, racist, and unpredictably violent. Rachel’s last attempt to speak against her mother’s wishes was traumatizing, but even this was a lucky outcome. Only walking on eggshells has spared her from serious injury - her mother recently bit another member of the family (with her teeth) over a disagreement on how to correctly clean the fridge. Younger relatives have been assaulted outright for “misbehaving” and are similarly withheld from school or from any interaction with the outside world that threatens to unveil the extent of their abuse.

As for Rachel’s dog, her mother invariably threatens to “get rid” of Sadie (who she screams at daily) if Rachel speaks against her choices or beliefs. Imagine being forced to smile and nod as your mother denies the Holocaust just to avoid having your dog abandoned at a shelter or killed, let alone to keep yourself from being attacked or further isolated from reality. This is what she endures on a daily basis.

Rachel needs urgent support. I’ve been doing everything I possibly can from a country away, but it won’t be enough. The physical danger grows with every passing day; the toll on her mental health is already beyond measure. The money raised by this fundraiser will help us secure an apartment (and transportation to a safe location) along with the usual expenses of groceries and rent, including everything Sadie will need to be healthy and fed. It’ll also cover any surprise expenses that crop up, including items she may have to abandon in the process of safely leaving her family.

Anything we earn beyond our goal will buy her just a little more peace, and if she can afford any at all, you’ll have nothing short of our undying gratitude.

Thank you so much.