Help Nicole and Giavanna on their rebuild journey

from Nicole: I am disgusted and embarrassed of my situation but considering there is a child involved and I truly am doing all that I can, I felt this was my last Hope in asking for help.

As many of you know, it has been nothing but a downward hill for me.

In December of 2023, recovering from a 2nd brain operation, it was discovered that I had a cognitive disorder with deficits in my working memory as well as my visual and verbal learning. This was huge considering all of the struggles that I was presenting with no definite answers, but challenging to be told on your 32nd birthday. Being a single mom, caregiver for the developmentally disabled and being told that you have permanent damage to the frontal and temporal lobe of your brain is not something anyone can just take with a grain of salt. The same month, my vehicle that has been in the family for over 20 years needed a rebuilt transmission. In the same week that my car broke down and the repairs were unforeseeable as to when it would be fixed, I was discharged from the family that I had been working with as they needed a caregiver with reliable transportation. A couple months later, the engine went and was not driveable to any degree, as there wasn’t $3k available to rebuild another major component of the vehicle.

The last few months without a vehicle have been the hardest. Not just for my freedom, but most importantly for its essential use and that is to go to work, take my daughter where she needs to be, and attend all appointments that she and I need to attend. In August, it was confirmed that I am having issues with my heart as it is reaching 170 bpm every day, feeling like I am going to faint from simple moving and also currently no blood flow going to my feet. I have to go for an echocardiogram next week and will have the follow up with cardiology on 9/12. While wearing a heart monitor for 3 weeks, increasing heart medications and going for further testing, my daughter has been having medical issues that have been impacting her day to day. We are awaiting tests, labs and specialists that she will need to go to, to rule out the issues that she's been dealing with.

It has been a never ending dark cloud over our heads. I have tried so hard to stay calm, hopeful yet humble of the unfortunate circumstances of our situation, but in this economy it is extremely hard. I feel like I have wasted so much time of my life in survival mode, being left with nothing other than self healing and frustration because I simply don’t know where to begin. I have been trying. I can’t keep up with day to day life as I am trying to “rebuild” from the bottom up.

Currently, I am trying to secure full time employment. Whether it be at home or in person, I have been ready to take on whatever necessary to turn around this situation for the better, even if I find difficulty. Throughout this entire struggle, what I have been able to maintain is my ability to identify and heal my inner self which gives me Hope that when I get back onto my feet, there I will stay and it can only go up from there. I am also in need of a vehicle so that I am not limited on jobs or gigs that bring in income. Being able to have my own means of transportation again, for obvious reasons, would be extremely beneficial as a lot of things are falling onto the back burner because of my limited ability.

I want to add that Giavanna’s father has been helping with taking her to school for me during my time which I appreciate greatly, however, he works full-time and it would be best for all of us to get back into our normal routine. For those who have known me know that I have come a long way with my mental health and efforts at regaining my independence again. I have endured many challenging situations and just want to get back to the other side of this. I kindly ask you to please consider helping my daughter and I. Thank you