It Takes A Village

It takes a village. We didn't realize the truth of that statement until we experienced it firsthand with our daughter Tommi. Like most parents, we pride ourselves on the fact that we have tried to keep our daughter protected from the dark side of this world. In the past few weeks, we learned the hard way that many of the qualities we love about Tommi such as her belief there is good in everyone, her wide open trust, and her sense of adventure, contributed to her tumble into darkness and despair.
Tommi's first experience with true darkness occurred while she spent time in Germany on an exchange program. While in Germany, she dealt with the knowledge that her biological father, arrested for child pornography and molestation, sat in jail. Suddenly, her world crashed down around her. Believing she could have, and should have known what was happening with her father, the guilt crushed her. Our once happy, self-assured daughter began to doubt all that she once believed to be true.
Returning from Germany with her self-esteem in shambles, Tommi craved a solution to her pain. She couldn't control what her father did, but she could certainly control her weight. Our beautiful daughter developed an eating disorder. Her obsession with self-image led her to another dark time in her young life. Through therapy at a center that specialized in eating disorders, our daughter began to thrive again. She bloomed, spread her wings, and decided she was ready to take on the world.
Wanting to prove to us that she could take care of herself, she moved out of our home and into an apartment with roommates. Unfortunately, the same innocence we loved about her, proved to be her downfall. Tommi trusted and relied on the uncle of one of her roommates to keep her safe. Her apartment turned into a drug den. At one point, Tommi found herself locked in the bedroom and held hostage. At the urging of the man she trusted and believing she would be forced to live on the streets if she didn't comply, she began to steal and "hustle" for the uncle, the man she once trusted. Things went from bad to worse; when we found Tommi, she was living at the mercy of this man, in her car, strung out on meth, and severely dehydrated and malnourished. The darkness enveloped her and swallowed her up in a matter of a few weeks.
With no time to spare, our family and friends staged an intervention. Because of Tommi's strong sense of urgency for the love of her family, she agreed to go into an out of state treatment facility for drug abuse and eating disorders. We had her on a plane within twelve hours of the intervention.
Whisked away to a safe place, she is slowly pulling herself out of the dark place and putting the pieces of her life back together again. Unfortunately, this treatment facility is not covered by our insurance. Through the grace of friends, we secured a loan to cover four weeks of treatment. While we could never put a price on having our beautiful daughter back, we need help funding her stay in the facility. Tommi has blessed so many of you with her kindness, her patience, and her unconditional love. We set up this Fundme site to give you the opportunity to return the blessing. Many of you have asked what you can do to help Tommi and our family. If you aren't able to monetarily contribute to her recovery, please keep her in your prayers.