Urgent: Fighting Disability & Housing Concerns

Hi everyone,

This is incredibly difficult for me to write, but I’m in crisis and urgently need help.

Over the last year and a half, my life has been consumed by a series of devastating setbacks physically, emotionally, and financially. Several months ago, I was assaulted and have spent months dealing with legal issues regarding the situation, causing PTSD which triggered constant, severe flare-ups of my fibromyalgia. I’ve been in relentless pain ever since. Some days, I can barely walk or get out of bed. Other days, I don’t even have the strength to even open a water bottle. I have some good days that still allow me to feel like myself, but those good days are followed by days of not being able bodied, being in pain and dealing extreme exhaustion. I know people don’t understand my fibromyalgia, but it is debilitating and it’s ruining my life and everything I have ever worked for or accomplished..

I’ve had to put my photography work on hold just to survive, but the reality is I’m permanently disabled and don’t receive disability. In 2025, applying just isn’t a viable path for me to stay alive. Benefits aren’t enough to live on, and the system makes it nearly impossible to earn anything on the side. So I’ve been cornered into pushing myself past my limits to try and keep going. I want nothing more than to thrive in my career, I have so many goals that I am constantly working towards and life just had other ideas. It’s disheartening at all times and it’s depressing, because people get an idea of you or paint an illusion that’s not even true, when the reality is I’ve always just been battling an invisible illness that no one around me wants to acknowledge is as bad as it actually is because I appear normal and able bodied from an outside perspective.

As a lot of you probably know, my car was stolen and that one loss turned everything upside down. Without reliable transportation, it’s cost me 10x more just to do basic things over the past year and a half. I lost access to work, clients, and vital resources. The cost of everything has continued to climb, while my income has dropped. My clients, many of whom are struggling themselves, have less money to invest in creative work, and I’ve been too sick to work a 9–5 job. I did take on a seasonal position in the winter and it was entirely too much on my body during that time. It’s not from lack of trying. I’m just between a rock and a hard place where I’m at right now and I just don’t even know what to do anymore.

My partner has also been dealing with health issues, he has peripheral neuropathy and has been on temporary disability. On the very day we were finally going to catch up on some rent, his wages were unexpectedly garnished for child support. Now, we’re facing eviction. Our landlord has given us less than 24 hours to come up with a portion of what we owe, and we simply don’t have it.

We’re asking for help to raise enough to cover:

• $1,200 for immediate rent due to avoid eviction

• Basic utilities (electricity, gas, water, internet)

• Medical copays and medication costs

• If the full goal is reached, we hope to invest in a used vehicle to help restore stability and access to work, medical care, and daily essentials.

This isn’t easy to ask, and I don’t expect anyone to fix our lives, but any support you can give, whether it’s $5 or sharing this link, would be life-saving right now. You wouldn’t just be helping us stay housed, you’d be helping me preserve my health, my livelihood, and my future in the career I’ve worked so hard to build.

Thank you so much for reading this, for caring, and for supporting us in any way you can. I’m exhausted, scared, and doing my best, but I can’t do this alone anymore.

Thank you.

With love and gratitude,

Brittany