Stephen & Kaarin Need Help

Hi there!

 

My name is Stephen Bruckert, and I’m asking for your help.

 

This has been a very rough year for my wife and I.

 

In October 2020 we lost my beloved younger brother to hypertension.

 

In July of 2021, Kaarin lost her dear mother to breast cancer.

 

And just last week, we had to put down a foster dog we had found dying on the street. We, along with our partners Sarama Animal Rescue, helped him through six months of rehabilitation and healing from starvation and a tick borne blood parasite.

 

Then, mere days from his scheduled adoption to a loving forever home, and with no signs of previous aggression of any kind towards anyone or any animal, he tried to kill my wife entirely unprovoked, and nearly succeeded. 

She’ll retain use of her arm. The physical healing process will take time and it’s not yet clear what the extent of the nerve and muscle damage is.

 

We’re still both pretty shaken up from this near death experience even as we struggle to overcome the trauma of two family losses, as well as the loss of this dog that we loved and healed, and who loved us. 

 

In the last year our brains have been foggy and it has been difficult to work, due both to the emotional trauma and the obligations we’ve had to our families to close up and shut down what’s left behind when people we love pass unexpectedly.

 

We're freelancers, in the United States no less, so we have no sick days, family leave, or bereavement leave. We understand that many other workers in the United States, including you reading this right now, may not have these things.

 

It's a hardship, as you may know.

 

We have done an admirable job of taking care of our loved ones and each other but these events have taken a toll on us financially. We have put basic expenses, like gas and groceries, on credit cards knowing that brighter times lay ahead.

 

And while we are healing through love and therapy and nearly ready to return to being our best selves and financially productive, we face the strain of the financial concerns we put aside to focus on the emergencies in our lives over the last year.

 

There have been times in the last year when people have reached out to us and said "If you need anything, please ask."

 

That time has come. We are asking for your help.

 

You may be reading this and thinking to yourself, "Oh, jeez, but I've already done so much for them."

 

If you're thinking this : You're right, you have, and we thank you. This isn't a request directed to you. We are so grateful for all the help we've received from the people we love over the last year.

 

It's hard to ask for money. It's humiliating and I'm ashamed of myself. But right now we do need the help, and on the encouragement of my therapist, I'm asking for it. To all the people who have offered to help me financially and I've declined, I promised you then that I'd ask before it became an emergency. Here we are.

 

We will be okay. We will make it. We are hard working and smart and we love each other. All I'm asking for now is a hand up, if you can spare it, to help move us out of this darkest period of our lives and back in to the light, which we are fighting our way back to.

 

We love you and we thank you, however much you give and whether or not you give.