Insurance Denied Mom's Disability Claim - Save Harley's Home

Harley is my niece... and she's about to lose her home.

She's 17 years old, a senior in high school, and she is on the autism spectrum -- but we prefer to call it "neuro-spicy!" She lives with her mom in a little house in Fenton where she's been able to find a really wonderful small group of friends, a job at a thrift shop after school, and a routine that works for her. Harley is funny, creative, smart, and loving... but her autism sometimes makes life more difficult than it already is for a neurotypical teenager, and she thrives on consistency and stability. Her mother bought this home on a foreclosure and worked really hard over the last seven years to update it and make it cozy for them. It's a haven, not just a home.

Harley is about to start her senior year and all of that is in jeopardy. You see, her mom Peggy is sick. In July of 2022, she got the Covid-19 virus. It was her first exposure and it debilitated her. For about a year, she struggled with brain fog, cognitive and heart issues. She had doctor appointments after doctor appointments but stayed working in her position as a cost accountant for a large company through that first year. Her cardiologist diagnosed her with Long Covid but as it turns out, her primary care doctor didn't believe in Long Covid.

Then in September 2023, she got Covid again and was so sick she couldn't function. COVID ran through her workplace, but as her coworkers were returning to work feeling well again, she was still very sick. The fatigue was overwhelming. Her hair was falling out by the fist-full. She couldn't concentrate. She couldn't work and so she was on FMLA for three months. But then, she was essentially forced to go back to work. It was just before Christmas. She worked for three months, barely holding on. Then on March 15 2024, a new doctor, a new round of appointments. Her new doctor told her she couldn't work, that the Long Covid had completely taken control of her brain and her body... but her insurance company denied her claim for short term disability. Denied, and denied, and denied, despite her medical diagnoses.

She got a gout medication that eased the heart palpitations and breathing issues, but her life was completely upended. She could not return to work.

Her body is in constant pain. She makes dinner and has to lay down for hours. She can barely drive; grocery shopping is a struggle. Some days she can't get out of bed at all. She has been to doctors and specialists and has not gotten any relief. After a year of this illness, her savings ran dry. She's been able to keep up utilities and scrape by on expenses for the last year (barely spending $500/month for both of them to survive), but the mortgage has gone unpaid.

When Harley was told that they would have to sell their house or it would foreclose, she asked her mom if they could try a GoFundMe. Losing this home, this routine, the safe space where she thrives, would be devastating to her.

Peggy had already worked on a few options, including selling to an investor who would let them rent their home back for a year so Harley could stay at Fenton schools to graduate. But her dream was that Harley would be able to stay in that house and build her life in the small town of Fenton, Michigan where she's put down roots. Peggy has a doctor's appointment with another specialist at Henry Ford Health in mid-September, and she's hoping and praying they'll give her answers that will help her get back on her feet and to work again. Harley just wants to stay in her home and spend her last year of high school in the same corridors where she's comfortable, learning from the same teachers that have helped her make it through school this far, then get a job at a local bookstore. It sounds like a simple life, but it's perfect for her.

The mortgage is in arrears $20,000. If she could get that paid off, plus some money to pay the monthly payments for six months or or a year until Peggy can get the help she needs to get healthy again, that could mean all the difference in the world to them both.

If by a miracle of hope and faith and love and kindness we reached goals unimaginable... $140,000 would completely pay off their house and it would be Harley's home as long as she wants to stay there.