In 2020, the year of COVID, I found out I was pregnant. I worked at a Coca-Cola plant in Atlanta, Georgia, off of Fulton Industrial. My baby's father told me he did not want to have any more kids, so I accepted the fact that I was going to be raising my son alone.

A few weeks after, my job exposed me to some chemicals that later sent me to the hospital. After giving my job a doctor's note saying that I had restrictions due to being pregnant, the job continued to ignore those restrictions, which later resulted in me quitting because I had to choose between my son's and my life or a paycheck every week.

To make ends meet, I ended up doing DoorDash, and after a while, I eventually had to stop due to the fact I was getting ready to give birth. My son was a week late, and after being in labor for 3 days, my son finally arrived, but when he arrived, he was not breathing. Once he was resuscitated, he made a fast recovery. I went back to working to provide for my child.

Then I was later encouraged by multiple doctors to get my son tested for autism. After getting him tested for autism, he was diagnosed with level 3 autism. So, I became his full-time caregiver. I have lost my car and lots of financial stability because I became his full-time caregiver. My family does not support him, nor do they want to deal with him because he is autistic. His father wants nothing to do with him.

After doing research, I realized that the autism came from when I worked at Coca-Cola. After pursuing multiple lawyers, I was not able to pursue a lawsuit because of lack of resources and no one would help. Being the resilient woman that I am, I still choose to take care of my son and put him in the position for him to succeed. He recently started ABA therapy, which gives me free space to go and find a job so that I can provide for him.

But like other autistic kids, my son needs room for him to grow and evolve and be the best that he can be, so he needs his own space. Right now, my son and I are sharing a space that is not big enough for the both of us. So, I am sacrificing my needs for his needs. So now I am trying to invest in a bigger space for my son so that way he can have his own space for him to stem and grow and evolve. This journey has been hard, but I am not going to give up on trying to provide for my son, and as much as it pains me to ask for help, here I am asking. If you find it in your heart to help me give my son a home where he can feel safe to be who he is and grow, that will be a blessing. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for those who support.