
Help Tina Rebuild Her Life After Abuse
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Tina escaped an abusive relationship last year, but lost her home, job, and stability in the process.
She’s spent the past year healing, caring for her two retired greyhounds, and preparing to return to work in healthcare while struggling to make ends meet. Just as she started to rebuild, her living situation became unstable again, forcing her to move for the third time in less than a year.
Your support will help Tina secure safe housing, cover moving costs, get back to work, and build a small financial cushion so she can focus on healing.
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Hi, my name is Taylor, and I’m starting this fundraiser on behalf of my best friend, Tina.
Some of you may know Tina through her past relationship with a well-known YouTube music critic, but I’ve known her personally for nearly 12 years. If you can imagine the most caring, loving, and selfless person possible, multiply that by ten and you’ll start to understand who Tina is.
Tina’s Story
Back in August 2019, Tina began a long-distance relationship with a rising content creator while working full-time as a medical assistant. A year later, at the start of the pandemic, he moved across the country to live with her. From that point on, Tina took on the overwhelming majority of responsibilities in their shared life, handling the housework, supporting him through personal challenges, and working tirelessly to nurture and grow his career—all while holding down her own full-time job.
During this time, they got engaged and adopted two retired racing greyhounds, Mac and Suki. These dogs quickly became Tina’s whole world. Retired greyhounds often come with serious medical and dietary needs, but Tina embraced every challenge and gave them a level of care I’ve truly never seen before.
Stepping Away from Her Career
In late 2022, her fiancé asked Tina to quit her job to work full-time on his channel. By then, his business was earning hundreds of thousands more per year than she made. Her chronic illness was worsening, making it even more difficult to work her job, and he insisted that leaving to work with him would be the best decision for both of them. After months of consideration, and despite the risks of losing her independence and career, she agreed.
She poured herself into his business just as she had into their life together. She took on community management, PR, creator networking, content brainstorming, accounting, bookkeeping, filming/streaming setup, and more, while also continuing to run every aspect of their household. She was the invisible backbone of his success.
What no one saw was how bad things were behind closed doors.
The Truth Behind the Relationship
Tina worked endlessly to protect her partner’s image. She believed in him, believed things would get better, and never wanted anyone to see what she was enduring. But privately, she was being emotionally, verbally, and financially abused.
He gaslit her into questioning her own reality, damaged property during outbursts, and had a toxic relationship with substances. Episodes of paranoia, gaslighting, yelling, and verbal cruelty became increasingly common.
In early August 2024, one of these outbursts happened in front of friends. For the first time, someone close to Tina told her plainly: “This is abuse.” That moment opened her eyes to just how serious the situation was. The abuse escalated until, on August 31st, 2024, Tina feared for her safety and had to call the police. He was arrested for domestic violence. That was the day Tina finally left.
She packed up her life, took Mac and Suki, and moved to Detroit to be near her support system. But just days after arriving, the living situation she had been promised fell through, and she was suddenly facing homelessness. With no income and two large dogs, she struggled for six weeks to find a stable place to land. By November 2024, she had finally found a new home and began attempting to heal and rebuild, little by little.
The Aftermath
In the wake of leaving, Tina’s life was turned completely upside down. She lost her home, her job, her health insurance, her financial stability, and the person she thought was her future. She became a shell of who she once was: withdrawn, severely depressed, and barely able to leave bed most days.
This spring, she began using local free resources to get therapy and medical care, and started preparing to return to a career in healthcare. In therapy, Tina has been unpacking the patterns of narcissistic abuse she endured, understanding how those dynamics shaped her choices and sense of self. She also received a diagnosis of Adjustment Disorder with Mixed Anxiety and Depressed Mood, directly linked to the rapid and overwhelming life changes she’s endured. Slowly, she has been starting to reclaim pieces of herself.
But just as she’s begun to make progress, her current living situation has unexpectedly become unstable. She now faces the need to move again within the next couple of months. This will be her third home in less than a year, and each relocation disrupts her progress, drains her finances, and delays her healing.
As she put it to me:
“I’m richer than ever in love and friendship, but at my lowest point ever financially.”
To make matters worse, nearly a year after escaping, her ex is resurfacing to spread lies and manipulate the public narrative. He’s attempting to rewrite history, which has triggered renewed harassment and dredged up the trauma Tina has been working so hard to move past.
Despite everything, Tina is determined to move forward. One of her biggest goals is to return to school next year to begin her journey toward becoming a therapist—something she’s wanted since she was a child. This experience has only deepened her passion for helping others, particularly in helping young women identify the red flags of narcissistic abuse and find the strength to leave harmful situations.
Why I’m Asking for Help
Tina deserves peace. She deserves to heal. She deserves a real chance to rebuild her life.
With this fundraiser, I’m hoping to help her:
- Cover a deposit and moving costs for a more stable, safe living environment
- Re-certify and return to work as a medical assistant
- Cover legal consultation or representation if needed
- Afford prescription food and care for Mac and Suki
- Build a financial cushion so she can focus on healing and preparing for school, instead of just surviving
Tina spent years giving everything to someone who took her for granted. Now, all I want is to see her get back to being the bright, bubbly, confident, and financially independent person she used to be.
Thank you so much for reading, supporting, and sharing her story. It means more than you know.
— Taylor
Organizer and beneficiary

Taylor Nelson
Organizer
Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

Christina Umhoefer
Beneficiary