Eight months ago, I made one of the hardest decisions of my life—I left my marriage and started over with my 15-year-old daughter. We moved into a small one-bedroom apartment, believing this was our chance at a fresh start. And for a while, it really was.

That first month was full of hope. We unpacked and slowly made that little space feel like home. Money was tight, but we made it work. My daughter, only 15 years old, got her very first job to help support us. Instead of being a kid, she stepped up for me.

She used her own hard-earned money to take me out on little “dates,” just to make me smile. For a while… things were good. Then everything changed.

We started getting sick—constantly. Respiratory infections, bronchitis, asthma attacks. Hospital visits became normal. My daughter got pneumonia. Ear infections. Sinus infections.

We were in and out of the hospital for months. She missed school. I missed work. Our lives stopped. Then the heavy rains came, and exposed what was really happening. Our apartment was full of mold.

It spread through the walls, the windows, the baseboards. The walls became soft and revealed damage. Mold seeped through the paint and into everything we owned.

The only thing our landlord did was wipe it away with clorox bleach wipes, and try to deflect the mold issue while claiming it was condensation and that he was at no fault. He told me that in order to break the lease, and leave, I would need to forfeit my deposit, and sign a confidentiality agreement, stating that I wouldn't talk to the other tenants on the property about it.

I couldn’t keep my daughter there. In January, I made the painful decision to send her to live with her dad so she could be safe and healthy.

I stayed behind, trying to find another place, but with no savings, no family support (I grew up in foster care), and declining health, I ran out of options.

This week, I made the hardest choice yet. I left everything behind and moved out with nowhere to go.

In six days, I will be relocating to North Dakota to stay with my biological sister. She is generously opening her home to me rent-free so I can rebuild, but she is also a single mother of three, and I plan to contribute however I can while I get back on my feet.

My goal is not to stay stuck—it’s to rebuild. I plan to:

Why I’m Asking for Help

I am trying to raise $15,000 to cover:

Asking for help is not easy for me.

I’ve always tried to figure things out on my own, but right now, I simply can’t do this alone. If you’re able to donate, share, or even just read my story—thank you.

Every bit of support helps me take one step closer to rebuilding a safe, stable life… not just for me, but for my daughter.

She deserves that. And I’m doing everything I can to make it happen, including begging for money on the internet. Because she's all I have in the world, and without her, nothing else matters.