Housing for Stone Family & Support through Brain Injury

My husband Skylar got a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in January 2023 from falling down broken stairs at our 3br rental in Weed, CA where we used to live for 5 years (Hammond Ranch). I was pregnant at the time and had to work extra hard to support our family, only to receive an Eviction several days after giving birth. By donations we were able to get a small rental cabin through the winter, far out from where we used to live. The place was filled with dangerous mold so we moved out in the spring to camp on our property in the Iron Gate area near Hornbrook, CA— 3 acres with springs, trees, and farm land that I am still paying off (small payments) and began purchasing in Sept 2022. Since that time we had plans to build a cabin home there that our family could live in, built out of logs from Skylar’s tree jobs and recycled materials.

Update:

We got Starlink satellite internet! Thank you so much for helping us get this essential so we can call 911 for medical emergencies and make other phone calls, use internet for work, etc. We were also able to get a Jackery solar power station to power the Starlink with donations. These are huge improvements to our lives after 6 months off grid so thank you!!

As far as our cabin build: While we have collected many of the materials needed and made some progress on foundation and building, the cabin home project has been pushed back more and more due to Skylar’s continued inability to work very much. Every time he begins working hard physical labor for days or weeks in a row his seizures get way worse for weeks after. This has left him unable to work very much making income to provide for our family or work much on building the cabin.

Skylar's seizures have gotten worse than ever in recent months, lasting dangerous lengths of time with bad convulsions. I have become his caretaker in these emergency situations which happen almost daily. His medical provider UC Davis is now ignoring us after failing to provide any medical care. I am also providing childcare to our two sons every day, breastfeeding my baby, and trying to make an income with my jewelry business working from home while I juggle all this, but I have been drowning. We have been camping now for over 6 months with a baby in tents and a small camper on our raw land with very limited water, limited heat, and limited electricity from a generator a couple hours a day.

Some Positive things are: We are grateful to have received donations to be able to get a small propane Buddy heater and Starlink kit for satellite internet, along with a small Jackery solar power kit to power it. This has provided us with connectivity to make phone calls and use the internet again from our property, which has been essential for medical emergencies and helped so much with our mental health as well.

After the medical system has failed him and set him aside, Skylar was gifted an appointment with a homeopathic doctor and has been using homeopathic medicine which has finally shown a bit of improvement in his symptoms and seizures and we are hoping to continue to see even more improvement from homeopathic medicine. That same person also gifted us a nice night at hotel Callahan so we could all be warm and get showers, it was so comforting. Another person gifted Skylar a durable canvas tent so he doesn’t have to sleep in a dripping collapsed pile of fabric anymore. We have also been gifted a shed for storage that is on the way, we are grateful and excited for this after losing many of our belongings to the rodents, wind, rain, and sun throughout the year.

We find joy in our children each day and continue to hold a vision for our land to become our homestead and farm, a strong vision full of purpose that continues to drive us forward despite all the challenges. We enjoy the quiet, natural and peaceful surroundings with views of snow capped mountains, and all the wildlife like eagles, wolves, coyotes, and wild horses, free range llamas and cattle. We love watching our sons run freely with plenty of magical space to play outside. We love having our own mini waterfall, year round creek, artesian springs, and nice soil. We look forward to the days when this farm is thriving, Sky is better, our home is built and things are feeling more sustainable here, and I feel that this will be coming in this next year.

As far as Social Services, we have applied several times for Disability, Cash Aid and housing but have been denied due to something like a missing signature and our application thrown in the trash multiple times. After applying again which is a long arduous process, only for it to be thrown in the trash again. I will be applying yet again for Cash Aid which we should be perfectly eligible for, maybe it will go better this time. We do get Food Stamps, luckily, and I have gotten some help from Choices with diapers and kids clothes. We have gotten food poisoning twice from Food Bank food that was all expired so we will not be going to Food Banks anymore. I have applied for housing assistance Section 8 and not been selected for a year and a half of waiting. Skylar has been denied Disability twice and is waiting for the next decision.

My child has been denied access to school due the school district breaking a federal law "McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act" and banning my homeless child from campus over missing paperwork. This is in addition to an ongoing Autism diagnosis, pending Medical Exemption, and waiting for his medical appointment next spring is the soonest (yes I have tried hard to locate a sooner appointment elsewhere). I have been battling with the system to get him his right to continue attending school, which he had started Kindergarten in the fall and was doing the best in his life. All the school district will do is ban us from campus, ignore us, charge fines for truancy, etc.

Without any child care, I cannot safely leave my children with my disabled epileptic husband who could have seizures at any time lasting up to 30 mins or 3 hours sometimes. This is why I have been trying to support us with my jewelry sales online from home. I hope to get another job working from home as well. It is difficult juggling so much at once, having so much on my shoulders and never having much of a break from things. I have an autoimmune disease (Graves) that has flared up this year due to stress and lack of ability to care for myself like I used to when things were good before the brain injury and we descended into extreme poverty. I have also had many painful bouts of Mastitis from not being able to shower regularly.

Things We Need: *Please note that the amount we have already received in our GoFundMe is for this whole year and represents what would have been an entire year’s income from the main provider of our family. It has already been spent on the cost of living and on essential improvements as previously mentioned. We still need vehicle repairs on a harmful exhaust leak, broken sway bars, worn down tires, and broken brakes we have had no choice but to drive our family in for all year. We have ongoing needs for essentials like diapers & wipes (non toxic), Food (organic,gluten free) , Propane, Gas, and medicine, as well as bills for our land, internet, phones. Everyone needs thermals, gloves, socks. Small wood stove. Storage bins. Night in a hotel for real showers and wash my hair. Mattress queen and twin. We had been offered about 3 RVs, 3 house stays, and a school bus, only to be disappointed by none of those things coming through. Help with childcare. Help with holiday gifts. Propane for heating is a huge expense and essential right now, a wood stove would help cut that cost. Community care and support.

To anyone who might feel like helping, my Venmo is @stone_vintage for donations and you can order my handmade gemstone jewelry at heatherstonejewelry.etsy.com

Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated and helped relieve some of our suffering this year, the hardest of our lives. Thank you to anyone reading, caring, or helping in any way. We are making it through this because of you all. Thank you for supporting us and giving us strength to carry on. Just knowing there are people who care gives me so much strength. Thank you for your support

Someday (soon) we hope to give back to the community through our farm ventures and peaceful camping stays. Thanks!!