Sara needs help for moving, mobility, and her dog

I hate asking for help, but I need some.

Actually, I need quite a bit.

 

Three-ish weeks ago my father died after a very long illness. While we knew he was sick, his final decline was rapid and unexpected. My mom and I are now in the process of moving out of the home our family has lived in for forty years so that we’ll be closer to other family. Texas and I have a love-hate relationship, but I love the land we live on, and I know I haven’t processed that we’re leaving it.

 

For the past several years, my mom has taken care of not just her ailing husband but also her 94-year-old mother, who requires full-time assistance. It has been a hard time to put it mildly.  And now she is just exhausted, emotionally and physically. 

 

I’ve done what I can to help, but I know that it hasn’t been nearly enough. I have a form of progressive muscular dystrophy, and as of 5 or 6 years ago when I broke my ankle I haven’t been able to walk. I use a scooter to get around, but that getting around has also been severely limited of late. The pandemic, which kept us all in the house, also did a number on my muscles, atrophy-wise.

 

I haven’t been to any store or location outside my house in over 20 months. I can no longer get in a car without the assistance of one of my brothers, and he lives 5 hours away.

 

I don’t want to live a small life, but right now I am.

I used to teach full-time, but that’s not really a possibility for me anymore.  At this point, no job that requires me to leave the house is a possibility.

 

I have been hustling my mugs and other art as hard as I can, but that’s not been enough lately either. I know my stuff is great and super cute, but I just can’t get eyes on it.

If you feel weird about just giving me money, buy something from the shop! I don’t mind working for it in the least.

 

I want to get out. I want to get stronger. I want to stop wasting my life and being a drain on the people I love most.

(I know no one would say that I am, but I still feel drain-y)

 

I need help with money for the move.

I need help with money to build a ramp into the house we’re buying. There are better mobility devices, but I don’t have the money. I’d like some day to buy an accessible vehicle, but I cannot see a day when that will be possible without help.

Ramps cost from $3,000-$5,000, and we need at least two. 

Used accessible vehicles are in the $45-60,000 range. 

Just adding a lift seat to an existing car would be around $10,000. 

Being disabled is expensive. 

 

And if that weren’t enough, a chunk of my tooth broke off today! 

 

Also, our dog Franny, who is really the only thing holding us together right now, is sick. I don’t know how sick yet (fingers crossed for not very), but she had x-rays and ultrasounds today, and we’re both terribly worried. I know my mom will be devastated if anything happens to Franny.

I think I’m generally a positive person, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to see any kind of silver lining to all these clouds. 

 

If you feel moved to help, you have my sincere gratitude. I’ve tried over the years to give where and how I can, and while it makes me very uncomfortable to ask for help without promising anything in return, I do believe in people looking out for each other.

 

I know so many of us are having a hard time right now, so believe me when I say that I wouldn’t ask unless I believed the scales had finally tipped so far that I can’t get proceed without help.

 

Thank you, even if all you did was read this far.

 

xo

sara