Help Stacy Heal and Keep Braylee's World Intact and Safe

Fighting for Our Home, Our Health, and Hope

I know this a lot to ask and I have the worst anxiety right now writing this. Please know I didn't write this with the intent for a hand out. I am desperate to keep Braylee's world from falling apart, she should never get wet from my storms and I have made absolutely every attempt I possibly could before I decided this is now my only option left.

Hi, my name is Stacy and this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do—ask for help like this. But I’m out of options, and I’m out of time.

I’m a 44-year-old single mother to a beautiful, brilliant, spunky 7-year-old girl who has Jacobsen syndrome—a rare chromosome disorder that comes with multiple disabilities, including severe speech impairment and intellectual delays. She is the light of my life. Everyone who meets her falls in love with her instantly. She’s a fighter, just like me. But even the strongest people can break when the weight becomes too much—and right now, I’m breaking.

Over the past year, I’ve been fighting battles on all fronts—battles that most people don’t even see. I’ve been advocating nonstop for my daughter in the public school system, navigating complex medical care, dealing with the trauma of co-parenting through family court with my abuser, and trying to survive the ever-rising cost of living. And then, just when I thought I had no more left to give, my body gave out. I suffered a stress-induced heart attack.

That was my wake-up call. I’ve tried everything—absolutely everything. I’ve called every program, every church, every number handed to me. I’ve gone through town welfare, legal aid, 2-1-1, local nonprofits—you name it, I’ve tried. And still, we are now facing eviction. I have until the end of this month before we lose the only stable home my daughter has ever known.

The rent for our apartment is $2,345.00 a month. Right now, I am behind on two months—March and April—so the total past-due amount is $4,690.00. I need help to cover this, or we will be forced out, and I can’t let that happen to my daughter, not when stability is so vital to her.

Stability for her isn’t just about comfort—it’s about survival. It’s about keeping her speech/OT

services intact, her routine stable, her world grounded. Losing our home isn’t just scary—it’s dangerous for her development and for my fragile health. I can't bear the thought of her watching everything she knows slip away.

Here’s something I don’t share lightly: I have always been the person to give. I’ve given my last dollar to help someone in need, whether it’s a friend, a stranger, or someone who needed a hand up. I’ve always been the one who quietly helps and never expects anything in return—just the satisfaction of knowing I made a difference. But now, I’m in a place where I need help, and I feel the heartbreak of realizing that no one is standing up for me in the way I’ve stood up for others. That’s a hard thing to swallow.

So here I am, vulnerable and scared, asking for the one thing I’ve spent my life trying to avoid—charity. Not because I haven’t tried to help myself, but because I’ve reached the end of the line, and I simply cannot do this alone anymore.

If you can help, even a little—if you can share this, send a message of support, donate a few dollars—it could mean everything. It could be the difference between a shelter and a stable home, between another ER visit and healing, between despair and just a little bit of hope.

was unaware of the charges GoFundMe has for donations, I feel ridiculous doing this but here's my chime account, PayPal and venmo info to avoid charges and update the amount on gofundme.

Chime- $Stacy-Gervais

PayPal - @staciegmarie

Venmo - @Stacy-M-8320

Thank you from the bottom of my heart—for reading, for caring, for reminding me that people still show up for each other when it really counts.

With love and gratitude,

Stacy and Braylee

Just wanted to add some details about my heart condition and the night of the attack because I am getting a lot of messages asking how at 44 and I can't keep repeating myself. So, the cardiologist was stumped at the hospital on why as well. All my blood work came back perfectly, nothing came back as an indication that could have caused it, I don't drink, smoke or do any drugs and I am not overweight. No family history of younger adults having issues like this either. My arteries were absolutely perfect. Chest X-ray and CT scan (other than the damage the attack caused) came out perfectly. He called this a "mystery heart attack" (which didn't sit with me well at all) we went over my medical background, family history a thousand times. The one thing that I never mentioned and never thought to mention because this was never brought to my attention during that time. Preeclampsia and Gestational Diabetes causes a heart condition years after birth. Having both at the same time makes you at a higher risk. It occurs 2 to 10 years postpartum. I am at almost 8 years postpartum. I know, I was shocked to find this out. Unfortunately, I had both while pregnant with Braylee and here we are. Because I had started making some healthy changes in my life 2 years ago, one being I quit smoking, it actually gave my heart a break and it allowed it to grow more strength back so the attack wasn't as severe as it potentially could have been if I hadn't made those changes. It wasn't even caught on the EKG, it took a CT scan to determine after the blood work came back a positive for a heart attack. Because of my high stressors in life, that's what ultimately caused the attack on April 9th. I was restless and overthinking all night, didn't feel well a couple days leading up to that night, thought I was getting yet another chest cold. It started with back pain, then the middle of my chest started to hurt like heartburn, spread across my upper chest into my arms, then there was this tingling feeling throughout my entire chest, followed with the most intense pain I have ever felt. The pain got so severe I honestly thought I was going to die from just the pain alone. This went on for about 4 or 5 hours until I started feeling nauseous and got up to go to the bathroom and my BP dropped fast and luckily my friend was awake when I text her and told her I really wasn't feeling well like 2 mins before that. I knew I was going down. I told her to call 911. 4:30 am ish the paramedics were there within 3 minutes and they too were so confused because I had every symptom of a heart attack but EKG was fine. My blood pressure was somewhere around 20/40 and all I wanted to do was go back to bed. They weren't taking that for an answer and brought me in. I sat in that bed in the ER for a good 25 mins while having a heart attack, as they ran test after test, until they realized I was infact having a heart attack, the cardiologist came in flipping out on them and they finally gave me nitroglycerin and that didn't work so they ended up patching my chest with it (they had the crash cart ready, paddles were there, I was scared) and eventually the pain subsided and I was no longer in cardiac arrest and my BP was slowly improving. It is not an experience I want to do again but unfortunately, if this condition is what they believe it is, this is just the beginning of this nightmare. So it just added to my already stressful life. I have more appointments coming up with more testing needing to be done. A journey I never thought I'd be on.