Support Brent and Sara's Family in Crisis

My name is Brent Lee. My wife and I had our daughter Tessa Grace quite prematurely. Born at just 23 weeks and 5 days old, Tessa only weighed 1lb 8oz. The Drs gave her 20% chance at surviving to live her life as a normally functioning human.

Sara and I went through this same hardship last year as well. We were finally able to conceive a child together but she went into labor prematurely with our son August Miles Lee. He also weighed 1 lbs. 8 oz. and he also was born at 23 weeks and five days. However, August only survived in NICU for 5 weeks. God had bigger plans for him in heaven.

To go through this same situation with Tessa Grace less than a year after losing August has been traumatic, to say the least. But, in a lot of ways, it has brought my wife and I closer. And I know that God can work all of it out for our good.

Last night a vehicle inadvertently ran my vehicle off of the road. I swerved into the brush trying to avoid hurting anyone. The other driver never even stopped.

The damage isn’t too terribly severe but the car is considered undrivable and is sitting in BJ’s tow yard in Apopka. (EDIT: The car is totaled. We only had the most basic car insurance. So the costs related to the damage of the car is on us entirely. It’s a total loss.) We will learn the extent of the damage later this morning. Please pray that it is not too extensive. And if God places it on your heart, please donate so that we can get our car back on the road. Without the car, I can’t make it to work. And without my income, we are going to lose everything. And we won’t be able to go see Tessa Grace everyday.

Sara and I are far from rich. We only own this one vehicle. Insurance alone costed me $4000 for just a 6 month SR22 policy. We struggle to make ends meet. We don’t have much outside help. It took me many years of learning to recover from addiction before I learned to master a trade and hold down a job. Sara has been a working, single mother most of her life. Taking care of two growing boys by herself full-time and working two jobs, full-time. We work hard to figure everything out on our own. We don’t live on handouts. It is by the sweat of our brow that we get by.

I’m not telling our story hoping for sympathy. I just want you guys to know that we do everything we can for our children and for each other. It has been impossible for Sara to work a full-time job with Tessa in NICU. I have been working full-time for nearly the duration of the pregnancy and Tessa’s 14 weeks in NICU. In addition to visiting the hospital almost daily. I’m rarely out of work for long. But I’m typically the type of guy that sticks with the same company for years and it’s been a struggle finding the right fit while Tessa has been in NICU. 2 weeks ago I finally found the perfect fit at work. And now im at risk of losing my position if I don’t have reliable transportation. I’m terrified. Same goes for Sara.

I said all of that, to say this-We have been really struggling lately. I’ve been working 35+ hours a week and I do well. Sara is starting back to work this Saturday to fill in the blanks. We have barely been able to make ends meet for the past couple of months. We’ve been cutting it close. It’s been tough , especially as a father because I have a new daughter getting ready to be home that needs me to be prepared for her. And She is all that I think about. I’m so ashamed that I don’t have a cushion for us In the bank. But it is what it is. And we have no cushion or help.