Please Help Us save Our Mom #savingamy

Hello, my name is Alyssa Higman. On September 13th, my stepfather Dan had a stroke and was rushed to the hospital. He was the full-time caregiver for my mother, Amy. Up until this point, my correspondence with my stepfather and mother had given no cause for alarm, and my sister, Jamie Faris, and I were told she was in good health other than preexisting severe mental illness that sadly affects every aspect of her life. Our mom has a schizophrenia and severe depression. She has also had 3 strokes, has an ileostomy bag, and requires special feeding. Due to all of this, our mom is unable to leave home or care for herself.

When Dan had a stroke, Mom went to the neighbors for help. While assisting her, these kind neighbors noticed the state of Dan and Mom’s apartment. My mom arrived at their door dressed in only an old shirt of Dan’s. The neighbors were unable to locate any clothing of Mom's in the apartment. It was infested with bed bugs, and there was cat feces/urine on almost all surfaces. There was also no food in the apartment. When brought to the hospital, our mother who is 5’7” weighed only 67 pounds. She was covered in bed bug bites and a medical professional noted that her ileostomy bag looked like it had not been changed in over a year. She was not attending her scheduled doctors’ appointments and was being left home alone, with no one to care for her, for 8-12 hrs a day.

Mom is currently hospitalized until she improves enough to move to a long-term care facility. She will need to remain there to work on nutrition, gaining weight, and physical therapy due to having almost no muscle mass.

My sister and I spent almost 20 years trying to find our mother and finally found her a little over a year ago, right when the pandemic started. We had plans to visit her, but with the pandemic in full swing and her being at a higher risk, we decided to wait. Now we are racing against the clock to save her life.

Our goal is to get our mom the care that she needs and once she is stable, bring her closer to us. I live in Montana, and my sister is in Nebraska, our mom is currently in New Mexico. My sister and I both have young families and do not have the means to cover the upcoming large costs which include Attorney fees: $4,000-6,000, travel fees for our families, including gas, hotels: $3,000-5,000. Legal/medical paperwork processing fees: $300-500.

Our mom, Amy, will have a long road ahead of her. She will need long term medical and psychiatric care. She needs our help, and we feel helpless knowing that we can't save her without help. If you could please help us to save Amy in any way it would be greatly appreciated. We will make sure to post any updates as we receive them. #savingamy