My name is Edwinna LaBonville, but this fundraiser is not for me; it’s for a woman I affectionately refer to as my Baby Mama, AKA Alishia Walker. She is my kids’ mother (I’m bonus mom), and I might be the last person most would expect to advocate for her, but we have an extraordinary relationship because she is an extraordinary woman.

Throughout her years, Alishia has endured more heartache than most see in their lifetimes. She’s had a dozen heart surgeries (including a pacemaker at the ripe old age of 37), multiple back surgeries, has navigated life with a son who is on the spectrum, and even suffered the loss of a child. But through it all, she’s kept a kind heart and always has a shoulder for a friend (or even a stranger), and her home is open to as many dogs as she can rescue.

Her latest escapade began with a wreck that totaled her car. She got pretty banged up in the wreck, including a black eye, and reinjured her back, which sent her to the hospital one evening. As it turns out, she also had a kidney infection so the nurse on duty administered an anti-nausea medication, but because we are talking about Alishia something had to go wrong. The nurse shot her up with Phenergan but failed to dilute it. Go ahead and Google it, I did. It’s not pretty. She no longer has the use of her left hand.

As I type, Alishia is lying in a hospital bed after being told she might lose that hand. Her whole hand, up to the forearm. Did I mention she’s left-handed? Murphy’s Law Incarnate. Not only is she processing that, but she’s also worried about rent, groceries, and electricity, not to mention not having a car anymore, all while being unable to work as her hospital stay is indefinite at this point; she’ll be spending Christmas there. And the bills will only keep coming. And coming. She has no health insurance.

My friend is scared. She has much to look forward to, like her fiancé Brandon Becker who loves her dearly and a daughter who’ll graduate college in a couple of years, but right now, all that is hard to focus on. I implore you to put yourself in her shoes and give her some hope and security during what will surely go down as one of the toughest challenges she’s faced.