My daughter's battle with Lupus.

Hi, my name is Sheri, and I am fundraising for my daughter, grandson, and myself. I apologize for the length of my story but I feel it is important to understand our situation.

My daughter Taryn has always been very healthy and grew up with no health issues. All of that changed two months after she gave birth to my grandson four years ago. Waking up one morning with pain in her arm that radiated throughout her whole body after two weeks and caused excruciating pain with the slightest touch. After many trips to the emergency room and finally a referral to a rheumatologist, she was diagnosed with Lupus. Taryn's son was three months old at the time of her diagnosis.

The last four years have been very challenging for my daughter with many ups and downs with her health. The Lupus she suffers from daily has been very aggressive despite all medical intervention. She has also been through two different rounds of chemotherapy attempting to put her disease into remission, but neither treatment has been successful and her health has steadily declined over the last four years. My daughter's healthy kidneys only four years ago are currently only functioning at 30%.

Caring for a young child while Taryn's body has been attacking itself has been very difficult for her and she often needs help. My grandson's father decided to walk out of their lives three years ago and has not been heard from since, so I have stepped in as a caregiver to my grandson on a regular basis and we have all lived together for the last two years.

Watching my daughter's health steadily decline, I began to worry about her future and the future of my grandson. I was working a full-time job but could not advance in my career because of my lack of education. I made the decision to attend university full-time for four years and am expected to graduate in 2023 with a bachelor's in social work. My degree will provide me with better pay and the ability to better care for my grandson if my daughter was no longer able to care for him.

The last two years have been very busy for my daughter and me. I attend university full-time with government funding and student aid and work part-time, Taryn receives Employment Income Assistance disability payments every month and also worked part-time as we worked together to care for my grandson. Little did I know that life was about to take a drastic turn for the worse and our whole world would be turned upside down.

The three of us lived in a rental house and the landlord decided to sell his house and we had to move by Aug 1st. Taryn now 21 years old decided that she wanted to live independently with her son and I was going to find a one-bedroom place on my own. I secured a tiny one-bedroom place at the beginning of July but Taryn struggled to find a place because she receives government assistance.

July 22/2021

Taryn returned home from picking up her son from daycare and I returned at the same time from work. Ten minutes later, Taryn fell to her bed and had a seizure and an ambulance was called. When the paramedics arrived, her blood pressure was critically high and she needed to get to the hospital asap. When Taryn arrived at the hospital, the seizures continued and eventually she was put into a medically induced coma and put on a breathing machine. I was not allowed at the hospital because of Covid restrictions until the next day when I received the news that, Taryn's brain was swollen because the Lupus was attacking her brain tissue, which is causing the seizures. The ICU staff also explained that my daughter's chance of survival was very low, and only a very small percent of people with Lupus that has progressed this far survive. I was devastated at the thought of losing my baby girl and wanted to spend every minute at her bedside.

Taryn's admission to the ICU happened eight days before we had to move, I had a 513 sq ft apartment I was moving into, Taryn had not found a new place for herself and her son yet, the majority of a three-bedroom house had to be packed, and I was responsible for my grandson's care on my own now and financially responsible for moving two households, my grandson, all of my daughter's expenses, along with my own expenses, when all I wanted to do was sit with my daughter and spend as much time as I could with her.

Financially I was not able to do this all on my own so I decided to sell my vehicle. I purchased a 2010 Equinox 6 months earlier for $8000.00 and gave my daughter my car that I was making payments on because of her mobility issues so that she could get around with her son. When I sold my Equinox all I received was $4300.00 but I had to take it because we had to move in five days and I still had my daughter's car to get around in. Unfortunately, the first time I took my daughter's car to the hospital to visit her, the car overheated and cost me $690.00 in repairs a few days before we had to move. Thankfully I had some friends help me pack up our house, Taryn's belongings were moved into a storage locker and my grandson and I moved into my tiny one-bedroom apartment.

I have no family to turn to for support, help with my grandson or to ask for financial help. My grandson is in daycare during the day which allowed me to spend my days with Taryn in the hospital. I sat at her bedside watching while she fought for her life. Her lungs filled with fluid and collapsed, her heart stopped beating a few times, and her blood pressure remained critically high along with many other issues as the Lupus took over her body. Mentally I was preparing to say goodbye to my baby girl while trying to remain strong for my 4-year-old grandson that could not understand why his mother was not returning home. I had to stop working and luckily was on summer break from university but the bills and expenses continued to pile up. Even parking at the hospital cost $20.00 a day and was becoming challenging to come up with every day. I borrowed money from friends and even school to make ends meet.

While I struggled at home with all the added responsibility and stress of the situation, Taryn's strength and will to live began to pay off. After four weeks in a coma in the ICU, she beat the odds and her health started to improve and she was released from the hospital 5 weeks later. Not having a home to go home to, she came home with me. Since Taryn's release from the hospital, we have all been living in my tiny, one-bedroom apartment. Taryn has had a few more seizures since being released from the hospital and is unable to care for her son on her own at this time so we have decided that living together would be for the best. She can not be left alone with her son until she remains two months seizure-free, and I work evenings and weekends so I have not been able to return to work. Since Taryn's release from the hospital, she has not received any funds from disability because they tried to cut her off because she did not have an address and until she is on a lease they will not help her financially. So I have been supporting all three of us. I received my student funding a couple of weeks ago that was supposed to support me until January but by the time I paid back all the money I borrowed, paid my tuition and got all the bills caught up, I am left with $200.00 in the bank.

Our living situation has to change, being crammed into a one-bedroom apartment is not healthy for any of us. My daughter is not getting the rest she needs because she is sharing my bed with her son. I sleep on an air mattress next to the bed. I am 49 years old, have back issues that have worsened since giving up my bed and am also not getting the rest I need to take care of myself, my daughter and my grandson. Taryn's brain still has swelling and she is not out of the woods yet and we are taking it day by day hoping for a full recovery. She has started chemotherapy treatments bi-weekly again, hoping that this time her Lupus will go into remission. Taryn has lost her licence because of the seizures and I am responsible for getting my grandson to daycare daily and getting Taryn to all of her appointments, and the day-to-day running around. I started university again last week and luckily my classes are still online because of the pandemic so I am able to be home with Taryn at all times. My one-bedroom apartment is a subsidized unit and I have enquired about a three-bedroom subsidized unit and was told that one was available for us, but received a phone call two days later saying they made a mistake and there are no three-bedroom units available. After many emails and explaining our situation, I got confirmation on Friday that they have a three-bedroom subsidized unit available for us, but with conditions. The conditions are the reason why I am desperately asking for help.

The rental agency will not transfer my current damage deposit, pet deposit (I have an emotional support dog for my mental illness), and balance of this month's rent already paid to the three-bedroom unit. So for us to move into the three-bedroom unit, we must come up with $633.50 for the damage deposit and to secure our three-bedroom unit, $633.50 for a pet deposit, $633.50 for a half a months rent for the rest of September's rent, plus $1267.00 for Octobers rent. All of these funds are due before we can move into the three-bedroom unit. I also need approximately $500.00 for moving expenses to rent a truck, hire some help and get Taryns stuff out of storage and brought to our new place. The damage deposit and pet deposit from my current place will be returned to me within 2 weeks after we move into our new unit. I hope to use that money to buy Taryn some clothes and a winter jacket because she has lost so much weight and does not have any clothes that fit anymore and have some leftover funds in case of an emergency and help me to financially support our little family until I can safely return to work.

I have exhausted all of my financial resources during the past two months, Taryn is still not receiving her disability payments, and I can not return to work at this time because of the care that Taryn needs. I do not have the means to provide the upfront funds needed to move us into the three-bedroom unit that we desperately need and I am in fear that we will miss out on the three-bedroom unit and will have to continue to live in my one-bedroom unit.

Any help will be greatly appreciated and I will be forever grateful for your generosity. Please help us move into suitable accommodations so my daughter can continue her long road of recovery.