Help Me Fund the Education That Can Give My Children and Me a Future

Three years ago, I was three weeks into a new job and looking forward to building a future for myself and my two children.

Then one accident changed everything.

I spent five days unconscious and woke up to a life I never imagined I would have.

I had severe injuries throughout my body. My leg was crushed and pinned for hours. I suffered a compound fracture, serious injuries to my knee and ankle, a devastating pelvic injury, damage to my back and spine, and a severe injury to my dominant wrist.

I have metal hardware throughout my leg, permanent muscle loss, ongoing pain and limitations, and I am still facing additional medical treatment and specialist care three years later.

But the physical injuries are only part of what this accident has taken from me.

It took away my ability to build the future I had been working toward.

I had only been at my new job for three weeks when the accident happened.

I never had the opportunity to establish myself.

I never had the opportunity to work my way up.

I never received the raises or increases that could have come with time.

I never got the chance to build the career and financial security I was working toward.

For three years, I’ve been living on limited WorkSafe income while trying to recover and raise my children.

And slowly, month after month, I have fallen further into debt just trying to survive.

There hasn’t been money to build savings.

There hasn’t been money to get ahead.

There hasn’t been money to prepare for the future.

I’ve been trying to keep a household running, raise two children and deal with significant disabilities while living on an income that doesn’t allow me to rebuild financially.

Now I’m being told that I am capable of returning to work, potentially even in a minimum-wage position.

But after everything that has happened, I don’t want to simply find the first job I can physically manage and spend the rest of my working life struggling financially.

I want to rebuild properly.

I want to go to college.

I’ve found a two-year college program that can give me the education and skills I need to pursue a career that I can realistically continue doing despite my permanent physical limitations.

This isn’t about getting a temporary job.

This isn’t about avoiding work.

It’s the opposite.

This is my plan to get back to work for the rest of my life.

I want to graduate.

I want to get into a career that I can physically sustain.

I want to earn my own income again.

I want to stop living in fear of whether there will be enough money at the end of the month.

And most importantly, I want to be able to provide a stable future for my children.

But right now, I can’t afford to get there.

Three years of injury and limited income have left me with debt and poor credit.

I don’t have savings to pay for two years of college.

And because of my financial circumstances, I don’t expect to qualify for the funding I would need to cover the cost myself.

Trying to get a traditional loan is also extremely difficult when you’re already carrying debt and your credit has been damaged by circumstances you never expected to face.

So I’ve reached a point where I know what I need to do to change our future—but I don’t have the financial means to take that step.

That’s why I’m asking for help.

I’m fundraising for my education.

The money raised through this fundraiser will go toward the costs of completing this two-year college program and giving me the opportunity to transition into a sustainable career.

It will help cover the costs that come with going back to school while supporting my children and continuing to manage the financial consequences of the past three years.

My goal isn’t to live on donations.

My goal is to use the help people give me to get myself back to work.

I want this fundraiser to be a bridge—not a destination.

I want to reach the other side of these two years and be able to say:

I did it. I went back to school. I rebuilt my career. I’m working again. And I can provide for my children.

My children are my reason.

Everything I do now is about giving my boys a future.

They’ve watched their mom go from working and providing for them to struggling with injuries, pain and financial uncertainty.

They’ve had to see me need help with things I used to do myself.

I don’t want them to grow up remembering these years as the years when everything fell apart.

I want them to remember that their mom didn’t give up.

That when life changed everything, she found another way forward.

That she went back to school.

That she rebuilt her life.

That she worked again.

That she gave them a future.

Three years ago, I lost the future I thought I was going to have.

Now I’m trying to build a different one.

It won’t be the future I originally planned.

But it can still be a good one.

A future where I can work.

A future where I can support my children.

A future where I don’t have to depend on benefits just to survive.

A future where my disability doesn’t determine what I’m capable of accomplishing.

And a future where my boys can look at their mom and know that she never stopped fighting for them.

I’m asking for help funding two years of education so that I can work for the rest of my life.

If you can contribute, whether it’s $5, $20, $50 or more, you are helping me take a step toward independence.

If you can’t donate, sharing this fundraiser could be just as valuable.

I know there are countless people asking for help.

I never imagined I would be one of them.

But after three years of fighting to recover, fighting to keep our home, fighting to raise my children and fighting to survive financially, I’m finally asking people to help me do something more than survive.

I’m asking for a chance to rebuild.

A chance to get an education.

A chance to work again.

A chance to provide for my children.

A chance to give my boys—and myself—the future we’ve been fighting for.

Thank you for reading our story.

Thank you for believing in us.

And thank you to anyone who helps me take this next step. ❤️