Single mother experiencing everything all at once

Hi, my name is Molly, I am trying to seek any help for my sister Mary Wills.

My sister Mary is going through one of the toughest times of her life. She is experiencing it all at once. Divorce, losing her house, no electricity, ongoing health issues, domestic violence and upcoming surgery on her wrist inflicted by her ex-husband.

Mary is a wonderful mother to her four beautiful children ages 11,10,6 and 4. She has been a stay-at-home mom for 12 years. Her husband of 12 years took care of everything financial for her. He was always the provider; the house and all the bills are in his name and all finances were handled by him. So, for 12 years her husband went to work, paid the bills, had food on the table as she raised her young children. There have been rocky times, but they always made it work. Until it was worse than she realized. She trusted her husband, but the payments were not being made. The notices of electricity being turned off came and then dreadfully the notice of home foreclosure came. Since her husband handled everything, it was hidden until it was so far gone there are not many options.

Slowly aggressive behavior became more noticeable. The negligence of house and responsibilities were becoming overwhelming. And everything that has gone wrong was suddenly my sisters “fault.” Whatever solutions that could be thought of were not good enough and then the anger and actions made the household unbearable. I know emotions run high when people are at a low point. But that does not give anyone the right to throw things at people or grab them and cause physical harm.

For the past 12 years Mary had many health scares. After her 3rd pregnancy in 2017 she found out she has thyroid cancer. Two neck surgeries and one round of radiation her cancer is still not gone since her insurance kept getting cancelled to save money. Recently she had an ultrasound done and there are 2 questionable areas in her throat. We are praying bloodwork comes back with it being some fluke benign spot due to the amount of stress she is under.

Then on top of that, when her ex-husband grabbed her wrist out of anger, she tore a tendon. She has surgery scheduled to have a 6-inch cut down her hand/arm and they will take a tendon from her forearm to make a new one for her hand. She will need 6-8 weeks recovery and 2 weeks off work then 8 weeks for physical occupational therapy.

Mary recently found employment in August 2023 and has her own health insurance now. But she hasn’t been employed long enough to file FMLA with the upcoming surgery. So that is concerning.

On top of all this, the kids are at the center of it all. They are being used as pawns to write a different story. While Mary is trying to correct her children from acting out. (she did take the older girls’ phones from their hands) Her ex-husband has convinced them to go to the school guidance counselor and claim abuse. The kids are being told exaggerated stories of why their mother is to blame for the divorce. And that it’s their mother’s fault that she is unable to heat/ turn electric on in the house which is due to her husband tampering with the meter box and electric/heat is shut off. At this time her ex-husband has “claimed the kids.” And does not feel like giving them back. The kids are currently enrolled in school and the in-laws house (where ex-husband is staying) are not in the same school district.

There are so many negative things happening to this family and with my sister's past being a stay-at-home mom for 12 years she has no credit and no savings account. She is trying to file for every assistance she can. The wait lists are insane and there is no foreseeable help in sight. Mary is trying her best by holding down a full-time job, trying to take care of her health/family while trying to save to even live or move out.

If anyone can help this newly single mother to regain some stability for her and her children. Anything that could help her secure a place to stay and feed her family while she recovers from surgery would be greatly appreciated! Thank you for taking the time and consideration!