As some of you may know, Kayla has had a brain/mental health emergency recently so we are asking for all who are able to consider supporting them in this time. Sam will be home taking care of Kayla and unable to work for approximately 6 weeks as well as handling their finances from the incoming medical bills from Kalya’s hospital stay and continued outpatient care and treatment. Anything is so greatly appreciated. I will be posting weekly updates as well for you to following along on their healing process♡︎

For more context and information in Sam’s words:

Hello friends & family, thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives to stop here for a few minutes and hear about ours. It means a lot to me that we find each other here. Truth be told, we’ve been under an increasing amount of life stressors consistently since the Fall of 2022, when Kayla bought her first single-family home on the outskirts of Nashville, and came close to dying by suicide due to a situation that many of you may know about, but Kayla does not wish to share publicly at this time.

It has been a series of events that has led us to where we are now, and we are to the point of seeking help from our “chosen family” and online community. Whether you are here with us in Tennessee, or across the country and world, we are asking for any support you are willing and able to provide us during this difficult time that we are currently facing head-on.

To make a really long story short, Kayla & I both have Bipolar. It is a mood disorder that makes body & emotional regulation difficult for us, especially during times of increased stress. It is incredibly important for those who have Bipolar Disorder to be diligent in managing their stress levels, as extreme stress & excitement can induce mania. If the mania is left untreated or continues to increase with time and more compounded stress, people with Bipolar greatly increase their risk of going into psychosis. In short, psychosis is when a “switch” in the brain gets “flipped”, and the person no longer has a grasp on reality. They often and most commonly experience delusions, hallucinations, and extreme paranoia surrounding a story they have told themselves and believe, wholeheartedly, to be true. It is a difficult illness to manage, and is often exacerbated by complex trauma, but nonetheless, there is the hope and possibility of living a healthy life when managed properly with medication, therapy, and medical care.

That brings me to the bulk of our story and current situation. On February 22nd, 2024 there was a nation-wide outage with many large cellular companies here in the United States. We were unable to communicate with each other for several hours that day. This induced an extreme amount of panic in the both of us, as we have been increasingly nervous about the state-of-the-world at the moment for varying reasons.

Specifically, we have become more and more fearful about living in the state of Tennessee, due to the discriminatory legislation the TN government has been working hard to get passed here in Kayla’s home state. In short, the proposed legislation is anti-trans & LGBTQ+, both of which Kayla & I consider integral parts of our identities. As someone who is trans non-binary and seeking gender affirming care, I am to the point now that I am afraid to use the bathroom in certain public places here in Nashville, and we have been researching for several months now, desperately trying to find a way to affordably relocate elsewhere as a family.

By Saturday evening, Kayla was not feeling well, and expressed her extreme anxiety to me. After a series of small events, Kayla & I began to realize she was in psychosis. The stress of everything that has been weighing on us for 1 1/2+ years now finally compounded and became too much for her brilliant and capable mind to handle. To put it plainly, her brain finally “flipped that switch”, and she completely lost touch with the present reality. I put her to bed, and did my best to manage her condition from home on Sunday with the many resources and knowledge I have due to experiencing my own psychotic break in 2019. Unfortunately, by the evening, it had become too much for me to handle alone, as I am not a mental health professional, and also have Bipolar 1 and therefore must be diligent in managing my own stress levels so that I, too, do not enter psychosis, which almost always requires in-patient hospitalization to recover from.

On Monday morning, I was forced to drive her to a mental health hospital in the area to receive a proper assessment and evaluation of her current condition. She was hospitalized for in-patient care at the facility later that afternoon, and remained there through Friday morning. Once Kayla was discharged, the facility staff sent her straight to an onsite program known as PHP (Partial Hospitalization Program). It is a 6-hour program that runs for 3-weeks, Monday-Friday, and consists of group therapy and the continued mental health treatment facilitated by nurses, doctors, and psychiatrists. Once Kayla completes PHP, she will likely continue the remainder of the program known as IOP (Intensive Out-Patient Program) which will run anywhere from 4-6 weeks, depending on her condition at that time.

Kayla is being monitored daily by the hospital staff, and her detailed treatment plan is still developing. She has told me herself that she currently feels as though she is around 5-years old in terms of brain function, and is having a hard time regulating her body and emotions, as well as struggling to relearn coping skills to help her manage the stressors that come with living a normal life. This is very common and expected when coming down from psychosis, and exactly why PHP & IOP exist, and are necessary for her to complete at this time.

It is very important that Kayla is granted the proper amount of time off from work and other life stressors in order to heal and restore her brain properly, and be able to return to a place of normalcy with life in the coming weeks and months. I can unfortunately speak from experience that it took me around three years after my psychotic break to feel as though I had found my footing in life again. However, I am hopeful and expectant for Kayla’s recovery to be much quicker than mine was, and that is all because of the incredible support system we have around us. Yes, I’m talking about you :)

Currently, she requires an immense amount of care (again, this is normal) and time away from work to allow her brain to heal. This, coupled with the cost of her hospital stay and continued medical treatment is why we are reaching out for support. Though these decisions have been tough and stressful for the both of us, I know they are what’s right for my family and our future right now. Kayla is my best friend & the love of my life, and her healing journey is my top priority. I know firsthand what it is like to try and recover from this sickness alone and without much community, and I will do everything in my power to make sure she is surrounded and loved properly through this time.

Thank you for taking the time to stop here and read our story. If you would like to donate to this campaign and help to keep our family afloat while we navigate this season, we would be so incredibly grateful for the rest of our beautifully wild lives. I know this is often said, but it is entirely true: EVERY DOLLAR COUNTS.

At the very least, let this be a friendly reminder that our brains can get sick just like our bodies do, and mental health matters.

Be kind to your minds, y’all.

All Our Love,

Sam & Kayla