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MAINTAINING YOUR OWN-AND KEEPING TABS ON YOUR FAMILY AND LOVED ONES-MENTAL HEALTH IS SO IMPORTANT.
The stigma surrounding openly discussing mental health concerns, particularly with vulnerable teenagers and young adults, is something that has to change.
The emergency my daughter and family experienced that led up to our current financial problems all stem from a mental health emergency.
.
.
.
.
.
Hi, my name is Ashley. If you don't know me personally, here is a brief history of myself and the past 2 years of my life.
In 2005, I became a mother at 17 to the best daughter I could have ever wished or hoped for; Hailey. She is the apple of my eye with such a caring soul. Although it was very hard, I still accomplished everything I set out to do including raising her, maintaining a full time job, graduating high school, going to college and obtaining 3 degrees; an AAS in Medical Administration, a BSc in Healthcare Management and a MSM in Management.
Flash forward to 2019. Our family purchased our local Pizzeria and all started working to improve upon it and keep it running. Hailey was only 13 and took to her role in the kitchen like second nature. To this day, and throughout the entire pandemic, she's dealt with eveything imaginable and still keeps a positive attitude even when she's screaming on the inside. She is our most seasoned, non-management worker and she's only 16! She's truly an amazing young woman and a very, very hard worker. Smart as a whip to boot!
However, covid has taken much of our hard earned progress and much of our positive outlook on the future of our store away from all of us. We've went through mandatory shutdowns, numerous business-model restructurings, non-mandated shut downs (during the worst of the pandemic in early 2020 we willingly shut down for 2 weeks to help flatten the curb), product shortages and insane markups, inflation on non-food items, increases in gas prices and utilities, shortened business hours, employee shortages, competition to obtain and retain employees leading to massive employee wage increases and additional benefits that we have been paying for out of personal savings (which will be depleted in months time) and I (Ashley) have had to take the bare minimum in pay, sometimes not paying myself anything for a month at a time, all while working almost three times as much as I did pre-pandemic, to attempt to keep the store afloat, my employee's employed and my community fed.
As you can imagine, this has taken a huge toll on our family (in more ways than I can even begin to explain) as it's my family's sole source of income. It's also taken a very big mental and physical toll on all of us. This is where our unexpected and urgent need for help comes into play.
Without divulging too much personal information, Hailey went through a mental health crisis earlier this year which turned into a very scary and urgent situation. This ultimately ended up with a trip to our local emergency room for about 8 hours. Once stabilized, from there she was transferred into the pediatric intensive care unit for an additional 3 days. In both the ER and the PICU, she was given multiple medications orally and intravenously, had many many labs done, required multiple ecg and ekgs, consistent monitoring of her vitals and heart (you can see all of this in the pictures. It's nothing a mother ever wants to see her child go through) and required treatment from over 6 different doctors in various fields of medicine.
On day 2 in the PICU, she was deemed stabilized enough to begin evaulations regarding her mental health and state of mind (again, I will not divulge too much but I will say that her mental health was in a very bad place and was the root cause of everything that occurred). From there, she began seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist and continues to have many therapy sessions. These are all very much needed to keep her mental health in a stable place. So far, she has been diagnosed with anxiety (social anxiety, separation anxiety and generalized anxiety) and may be receiving more diagnoses in the future. These will come as her provider continues to work with her and can accurately diagnose based on the correct criteria.
All of this has built up a huge bill ( clinic and a hospital bill) which they want paid, understandably, but the amount they want is too much now. I've worked with the clinic and hospital, as I have 2 bills, but garnishment is a huge possibility if I can't figure something out now to satisfy their "minimum payments." If this happens, I will be forced to make a hard decision that I do not want to do involving my future in being a small business owner/operator.
I've never had to ask or have been able to bring myself to ask for help like this and it's very hard for me to do. Ive always been the first to have my pizzeria join in or sponsor our community driven events supporting other families and individuals, community outreach programs, food banks/drives, volunteer work, monetary donations and help with school functions. However, I now find myself being on the other side and in desperate need of help. I've run out of options, resources, time, and am running out of hope (I HATE to even say that but it's unfortunately true. I've never not been able to figure something out but this one's finally gotten me).
With all of this being said, I am asking for your help. Any amount you could spare would give me time. Time is what I need right now. Time to continue working with the hospital. Time to continue getting through all of the restaurant shortages and changes due to Covid19. Time to get Hailey's treatment stabilized. Time to figure out how to make it through this pandemic without failing. Failing is something I have never accepted and I won't accept. But in order to do so this time I need help.
If you can't spare anything, which I understand more than most, a share would mean so much to me. Prayers, thoughts, positive vibes. Anything.
Thank you for anyone who has taken the time to read this. I appreciate you.
Short video related to Haileys medical fundraiser that is located in my personal Instagram account
The stigma surrounding openly discussing mental health concerns, particularly with vulnerable teenagers and young adults, is something that has to change.
The emergency my daughter and family experienced that led up to our current financial problems all stem from a mental health emergency.
.
.
.
.
.
Hi, my name is Ashley. If you don't know me personally, here is a brief history of myself and the past 2 years of my life.
In 2005, I became a mother at 17 to the best daughter I could have ever wished or hoped for; Hailey. She is the apple of my eye with such a caring soul. Although it was very hard, I still accomplished everything I set out to do including raising her, maintaining a full time job, graduating high school, going to college and obtaining 3 degrees; an AAS in Medical Administration, a BSc in Healthcare Management and a MSM in Management.
Flash forward to 2019. Our family purchased our local Pizzeria and all started working to improve upon it and keep it running. Hailey was only 13 and took to her role in the kitchen like second nature. To this day, and throughout the entire pandemic, she's dealt with eveything imaginable and still keeps a positive attitude even when she's screaming on the inside. She is our most seasoned, non-management worker and she's only 16! She's truly an amazing young woman and a very, very hard worker. Smart as a whip to boot!
However, covid has taken much of our hard earned progress and much of our positive outlook on the future of our store away from all of us. We've went through mandatory shutdowns, numerous business-model restructurings, non-mandated shut downs (during the worst of the pandemic in early 2020 we willingly shut down for 2 weeks to help flatten the curb), product shortages and insane markups, inflation on non-food items, increases in gas prices and utilities, shortened business hours, employee shortages, competition to obtain and retain employees leading to massive employee wage increases and additional benefits that we have been paying for out of personal savings (which will be depleted in months time) and I (Ashley) have had to take the bare minimum in pay, sometimes not paying myself anything for a month at a time, all while working almost three times as much as I did pre-pandemic, to attempt to keep the store afloat, my employee's employed and my community fed.
As you can imagine, this has taken a huge toll on our family (in more ways than I can even begin to explain) as it's my family's sole source of income. It's also taken a very big mental and physical toll on all of us. This is where our unexpected and urgent need for help comes into play.
Without divulging too much personal information, Hailey went through a mental health crisis earlier this year which turned into a very scary and urgent situation. This ultimately ended up with a trip to our local emergency room for about 8 hours. Once stabilized, from there she was transferred into the pediatric intensive care unit for an additional 3 days. In both the ER and the PICU, she was given multiple medications orally and intravenously, had many many labs done, required multiple ecg and ekgs, consistent monitoring of her vitals and heart (you can see all of this in the pictures. It's nothing a mother ever wants to see her child go through) and required treatment from over 6 different doctors in various fields of medicine.
On day 2 in the PICU, she was deemed stabilized enough to begin evaulations regarding her mental health and state of mind (again, I will not divulge too much but I will say that her mental health was in a very bad place and was the root cause of everything that occurred). From there, she began seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist and continues to have many therapy sessions. These are all very much needed to keep her mental health in a stable place. So far, she has been diagnosed with anxiety (social anxiety, separation anxiety and generalized anxiety) and may be receiving more diagnoses in the future. These will come as her provider continues to work with her and can accurately diagnose based on the correct criteria.
All of this has built up a huge bill ( clinic and a hospital bill) which they want paid, understandably, but the amount they want is too much now. I've worked with the clinic and hospital, as I have 2 bills, but garnishment is a huge possibility if I can't figure something out now to satisfy their "minimum payments." If this happens, I will be forced to make a hard decision that I do not want to do involving my future in being a small business owner/operator.
I've never had to ask or have been able to bring myself to ask for help like this and it's very hard for me to do. Ive always been the first to have my pizzeria join in or sponsor our community driven events supporting other families and individuals, community outreach programs, food banks/drives, volunteer work, monetary donations and help with school functions. However, I now find myself being on the other side and in desperate need of help. I've run out of options, resources, time, and am running out of hope (I HATE to even say that but it's unfortunately true. I've never not been able to figure something out but this one's finally gotten me).
With all of this being said, I am asking for your help. Any amount you could spare would give me time. Time is what I need right now. Time to continue working with the hospital. Time to continue getting through all of the restaurant shortages and changes due to Covid19. Time to get Hailey's treatment stabilized. Time to figure out how to make it through this pandemic without failing. Failing is something I have never accepted and I won't accept. But in order to do so this time I need help.
If you can't spare anything, which I understand more than most, a share would mean so much to me. Prayers, thoughts, positive vibes. Anything.
Thank you for anyone who has taken the time to read this. I appreciate you.
Short video related to Haileys medical fundraiser that is located in my personal Instagram account