In April 2025, after living together in Costa Rica for 9 months, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life: I told my husband that I could no longer remain in our marriage. After ten years together, I knew in my heart that I needed to choose a different path—for myself and for our six-year-old daughter.

For years, I struggled quietly in a relationship where I experienced deep verbal, emotional, sexual, and financial harm. I tried to hold everything together. I tried to protect my daughter from conflict. I hoped things would improve. But eventually, I realized that staying was teaching her lessons I never wanted her to learn about love, respect, and partnership.

In June 2025, I traveled back to Chicago to be with supportive family members and to seek professional help for trauma-related symptoms I had been experiencing for years. Shortly after I left, legal proceedings began. My husband filed for full custody and obtained a temporary protection order that prevented me from returning home or being near him or our daughter. Because I was outside the country at the time, he was granted provisional full custody while the case moves through the courts.

Since then, my life has changed completely.

I have not had access to marital funds and have faced serious financial hardship while navigating an international legal process. There have been multiple court filings, supervised visitation restrictions, and long delays due to backlogs in the Costa Rican court system. Everything feels slow, scary, and uncertain.

In January 2026, after seven months without seeing my daughter in person, my mother and I were finally able to travel to Costa Rica. Over eight days, I was permitted just seven hours of supervised time with her. I cannot fully describe the ache of hugging your child after months apart, only to say goodbye again so quickly.

She is still the same bright, loving, creative little girl. She is my heart walking outside my body.

I am working with legal counsel and doing everything I can—through the proper legal channels—to restore stability, fairness, and meaningful time with my daughter. But the financial burden of travel, court proceedings, legal representation, therapy, living expenses, and rebuilding my independence has been overwhelming.

It is incredibly humbling to ask for help. My pride resists it. But my love for my daughter is greater than my pride.

Any funds raised will go toward:

-Travel to attend court hearings and visitation

-Legal fees related to custody proceedings

-Medical, therapy, and trauma recovery support

-Basic living expenses while I rebuild

-Continuing education so I can fully support myself and my daughter long-term

-A simple used car to get to work, school, and meetings.

I have a car in Chicago which is a shared marital asset with my husband who lives in Costa Rica but he will not disclose it's location or keys, and simply will not let me use it.

My goal is simple: to create a life for my daughter rooted in love, safety, security, opportunity, and emotional health. I want her to grow up seeing strength, not silence. Courage, not fear. Self-respect, not self-sacrifice.

This is not where I imagined my life would be. But I believe deeply that this is not where our story ends.

While I am staying in Elgin, I am an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Elgin (though I am culturally Jewish and pretty Pagan...) I do weekly service work in the community, I attend women's support meetings several times weekly, I substitute teach for a local school district, and I am actively pursuing a licensed massage therapy degree from Elgin Community College. I am also hoping to begin private cheffing again...anything that can help me build a better future for myself and my daughter. I hope to adopt a cat again someday for my daughter and I to nurture and love.

If you feel moved to support us—through a donation, travel miles, a prayer, or simply by sharing this page—please know that your kindness will help a mother continue fighting, legally and peacefully, to be present in her child’s life.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

If you would rather donate outside of GoFundMe to avoid fees, please let me know.

Thank you, I am so very grateful.