Hi, my name is Emily. I'm here today on bended knee, begging God and the universe for help. In my life, I've survived more trauma, pain, suffering and illness than most people experience in 20 lifetimes. I've always dug my way out of hell and come back. I'm a survivor.

This past year and a half have pushed me past every limit I have. I wake up and think, this can't be life. This can't be real. But it is. At every turn there's a new obstacle, and I've run out of ways to support my family through this.

My story continues below, but a brief summary is, we are in need of help with upcoming medical expenses far exceeding what I've been able to provide. Some of which will mean the difference of being in a wheelchair and having to use a catheter or excrement into a bag the rest of my life. (My doctors words). We raised 3.5k earlier in this campaign along with some outside donors. And those gifts saved us more than we could express. But I'm now faced with 6.5k of known medical expenses in the next two months. And so we are asking once again for help from family, friends, and those angels that walk amongst us in this universe and by the blessings of higher powers that be. We thank the heavens daily that we are still all alive and breathing. And have faith that what we need will be provided in ways we might not expect. 

Thank you in advance for reading this far, and for all the blessings already sent our way. 

We were in a really bad car accident in December of 2020. At the time, I didn't know how bad the damage was, or that my entire world was about to topple. I've already survived multiple lumbar fusions, a traumatic brain injury, being diagnosed with fibromyalgia, endometriosis, diverticulitis, chronic fatigue, unspecified connective tissue disorder, total hysterectomy at 33, a multitude of other surgeries. Survived having my identity stolen, lived in my car and a warehouse with no heat in the winter with a head injury. I've overcome the death of loved ones, including my first significant other. 

I lost my memories and ability to function, and fought my way back until I was able to return to working in an environment that was a place of healing. I pushed all the limits until I finally, after a lifetime of struggles, had a job I loved and was good at. Running a small private medical clinic. So much so, that I was now in the works to become a part owner of that business and was going to be able to provide for my family for life. We weren't going to struggle for survival anymore.

If I had only known then what was in store, I would have done things differently. But, I didn't know, couldn't know, how badly things were going to turn out.

My husband, step son, and myself were all injured. We were t-boned by a United States postal truck. Our car was totaled. And they claimed all fault. Her mirror was foggy and she couldn't see, but she decided to pull an illegal left turn from the side of the road to cut across and back to the other side of the street. She committed to the turn and floored it, never breaking and slammed into our car on my side, spinning us around until we were sideways across both lanes.

I hurt instantly. Because of my fusions, I braced myself with both arms in terror, but in doing so, I took the impact through my arms with my body twisted, and had injuries in my head, my shoulders, my neck, my thoracic, my lumbar, my hips and more. My husband had similar injuries and our son slammed his head into a window.

It was my birthday weekend, and it turned into hell. 3 weeks later I still signed the stock sale agreement and became a part owner of my clinic. I had no idea how extensive my injuries were. My husband was off work for months. He returned only to worsen and have to leave again. He's still needing back surgery and wakes me up at night crying out in pain in his sleep. His legs in spasm, his buttocks and back spasming so badly it's all I can do to calm him. And pray. I pray so much.

Our son still struggles cognitively and takes ice packs to bed for his head. He's been depressed and put on anxiety meds and antidepressants. His neck and back still bother him. He was only 12 at the time of accident.

I have been in extensive ongoing therapy for nearly 17 months. My mind and body continued to decline. I've spent months in a neck brace, lumbar brace, and sling. I've been through countless rounds of steroids and medications. Had injections and a full rotator cuff repair. All the while I was struggling to keep a brave face as the nearly sole provider of our family throughout this time. But my mind stayed foggy. Every month I had to relearn basic tasks at my job. The pieces of new information or responsibilities kept getting harder and harder to learn. It took months to untangle my different injuries.

The shoulder surgery was supposed to be a removal of calcification from a tendon, but there was too much damage to that tendon and the neighboring tendon that had now begun to be calcificated as well. They wound up doing a full repair. This meant spending months strapped into a sling, 24 hours a day, unable to use my right arm. The pain was greater than anything I anticipated and the recovery was brutal.

I became deeply depressed. Because on top of everything, I was going through a traumatic time at work. I don't want to go into detail, I'm only sharing because it added so much more weight to my shoulders and stress to our lives. I suddenly found myself jobless. We'd lost our stability, insurance, future and without hope.  I sunk deeper into my depression and my body struggled to survive. I had lost my will to live. 

Over the months to come, my symptoms worsened. My shoulder slowly healed, but took months longer than most would. But my body was giving up. Slowly I began to lose feeling in my leg. I struggle to walk. My back pain around my fusions cripples me daily. I couldn't perform basic tasks. I need help with bathing, dressing, and most daily tasks. My body began retaining fluid and making it difficult to move. My husband became my caretaker. The blind leading the blind.

Over the past few months, I've triggered lupus. Additionally I've begun having seizures and can no longer drive or work. We've lost our home, and are temporarily staying with family, but that meant moving across the state. We live in a small town that doesn't even have a neurologist or rheumatologist. The closest ones are hours away. I've exhausted every resource and we've reached the point of truly having nothing left.

I am now facing months, if not years of treatments and testing and am beginning the long journey of getting on disability. In the meantime, needing to travel back and forth over the mountains to get the treatment and see the doctors I need. And we're completely out of funds.

I have no idea how much more we have to endure. And I'm terrified of what's next. We've given it all to God and the higher powers that be. We are humbly here, praying that where there's a will, there's a way. I've dug myself or of poverty so many times. But this time around, I have a family counting on me. So I must survive. We're still facing thousands in medical and have lost everything but eachother and our family. We can't pay rent, or make our car payments, or have the funds to travel to the numerous upcoming medical appointments.

If you find it in your hearts to be able to gift us funds, or share our story in hopes that others will see it who might be able to. We would be forever in your debt and eternally grateful. We have no where else to turn.

I haven't talked about what's happened much to anyone, I've been too broken. But I'm here now humbly asking for any help you might be able to give. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

See latest Update: 8/18/22

The Shaw Family