PLEASE READ FIRST:

This fundraiser was originally created in February 2025, and thanks to friends and family, $3,400 was raised months ago. That support truly carried us through survival mode. I am endlessly grateful. Since then, I’ve done everything I could to get by without asking for more — but our situation has changed, and I’m being honest about why I’m updating this now.

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Hi, my name is Heather.

I’m a single mom, and for 17 years it’s been me and my daughter against the world. I wouldn’t change a single decision I made to put her first — even when that meant taking part-time jobs with terrible pay, sacrificing stability, and choosing time with her over money. Every bit of it was worth it.

In February 2025, I created this fundraiser while fighting a rare breast tumor and aggressive treatment. At that time, the goal was survival — keeping us housed and afloat while my body was failing me. Friends and family stepped up in ways I will never forget. $3,400 was raised, and that support kept us going when I truly didn’t know how we’d make it.

Since then, I tried to carry the rest alone.

I didn’t want to ask for more help. I thought I could push through. I thought pride meant strength.

But here’s the truth:

While I was fighting for my health, bills piled up. Credit cards maxed out — not from irresponsibility, but from survival. Medical costs. Living expenses. Basic needs. My credit took a hit because I was choosing to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. Physically and emotionally, I was running on empty.

And still — I kept fighting.

There were moments during treatment when I became so weak that my 17-year-old daughter had to help care for me. I remember crying, ashamed, apologizing for needing her. And she looked at me and said:

“Mama, don’t cry. If I’m the one doing it, that means somebody who loves you is doing it.”

That child was working a job, pulling long days, going to school, showing up to band, handling responsibilities at home that I physically couldn’t — and never once complained. She carried more than any teenager should have to carry.

She already deserves the world.

And if anyone deserves help going forward — the chance to go to college without crushing debt, the opportunity to focus on her education and talents instead of survival — it’s my Zara-Grace.

Since February, we’ve also had to leave a situation we could no longer stay in. We are starting completely fresh. I’ve had new medical updates from UAB, and I will need additional surgery. At the same time, I’m finishing my Psychology degree — graduating December 22 — because I have to become Heather again, not just survive.

God has been humbling me through this season.

The people who have shown up haven’t always been the ones I expected. And I see now that I wasn’t meant to do this alone. I stayed quiet for too long, spinning my wheels, thinking strength meant silence. But strength sometimes means asking for help when the need is real.

Because of where we are now, I am updating the goal to $15,000 — not for luxury, not for extras, but for stability and a future.

Funds will be used transparently for:

• Catching up on essential bills

• Paying down maxed-out credit cards that were used for survival

• Ongoing medical expenses and recovery

• Basic household setup as we rebuild

• Creating a small savings account for college so my daughter doesn’t have to carry the weight of full-time work and massive debt

• Ensuring she always has a safe place to come home to

This is not charity.

This is rebuilding after crisis.

I am not going anywhere. God still has purpose for me — and part of that purpose is using this story to help others who are drowning quietly the way I was. But my daughter deserves peace, opportunity, and a future not shaped by the hardest year of our lives.

If you feel led to help — even a little — please know it matters more than you realize.

Thank you for reading.

Thank you for caring.

Thank you for helping us rebuild.

With gratitude and faith,

Heather