J

This is a very long summary of everything. I beg for anyone to PLEASE read. If not please just share my story I need help.  Or just please at least read the highlighted parts or the parts that say “[IMPORTANT]”! Anything helps it really does! Thank you! Hello, my name is J. I’m 19 years old and currently living with my two sisters. My oldest sister is mildly disabled and has been since birth, and for the past 3 years my father has been the sole caretaker of our home, although honestly he carried the biggest responsibilities long before that.  Back in 2019, my father found out my mother was having an affair with someone from work. It absolutely crushed him because he truly loved her. He didn’t want our family to fall apart, so he begged her to try fixing things between them. Instead, she continued seeing the other man while gaslighting my father into believing he was “just a friend.”  My dad was emotionally destroyed, and because he loved her so much, he convinced himself things weren’t really over. Me and my siblings were too young at the time to fully understand what was happening or how to help him.  As time passed, it became obvious my mother wasn’t serious about fixing our family. Whenever my father brought up divorce, my mother became mentally and physically abusive toward my father. She would force him to sleep on the floor, kick and hit him, threaten to make false accusations so he’d never see us again, break his belongings, hide important documents, and destroy multiple phones of his. Even through all of that, my father still tried to love her and keep our family together.  During this time she slowly stopped acting like a mother. She would disappear for hours, sleep all day, stay out late at night, and leave all responsibilities to my father. He spent nearly 5 years trying to save our family while we all pretended things were okay, but her behavior only got worse.  As me and my siblings got older, her verbal abuse turned toward us too. She would lash out and accuse us of loving our father more than her. Even though we were hurt and resentful, we still tried treating her as our mother and forgiving her. By this point it was obvious she had another man in her life, even though she continued denying everything.  Then in July of 2023, everything finally fell apart.  The wife of the man my mother had been seeing came to our home looking for her. Instead, she found me, my sisters, and my father. That day we learned the truth about the secret relationship.  When my mother came home and we confronted her, she completely snapped. Over the following week she became unbearable to be around and constantly lashed out at everyone.  On July 27th, 2023, I woke up to loud crashing noises coming from my parents’ room. I walked in and found my mother destroying the bathroom door. She tried claiming my father had attacked her and locked her phone inside, but I knew she was lying. I hadn’t heard any arguing beforehand, and while telling the story she couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. She often smiled whenever she mocked or accused my father.  My sisters and I talked afterward and realized we no longer felt safe around her. She was becoming unpredictable and verbally aggressive toward all of us. We told our father how scared we were, and he finally agreed it was time to remove her from the house through a restraining order.  In August of that year, police had to physically remove her because we were afraid she would hurt my father if he tried himself.  After she left, our home finally felt peaceful again. For the first time in years we weren’t constantly anxious or afraid. But her leaving created a huge financial problem. At the time only my parents had jobs, and suddenly we were surviving off one income.  My older sister struggled to find work because of her disability, and around that same time I started suffering from serious health problems that required expensive specialist visits. My eye health deteriorated badly. Light became painful, my eyes would swell shut, and there were moments I could barely see. Those medical costs pushed my father into debt, but even then he kept pushing forward and taking care of us without a single bit of help from my mother.  For the next 3 years, he carried everything on his own. By 2025 we were finally starting to make progress when the divorce papers came. My mother demanded 50% of the house, despite not contributing financially to it for years. She hired a lawyer, so we tried to do the same, but financially we just couldn’t afford to keep one. We ended up having to fight this case alone while she had full legal representation. [IMPORTANT]  During all of this, we also learned my mother had received a $160,000 settlement from a dog attack incident back in 2022. My father was the one who took care of her after the attack. He paid for her treatment, helped her recover, and even helped her find a lawyer for the case. Yet after receiving all that money, she still never helped us financially at all and still went after the house to get more money.  She constantly claimed she “didn’t want to hurt us” and that she “forgave us” for how we treated HER, while actively trying to destroy the lives of the people who supported her for years.  Then came May 1st, 2026. The day of the hearing.  It went horribly.  No matter how much we prepared, it felt impossible fighting against a lawyer without legal experience ourselves. Watching my father slowly lose hope during the hearing was heartbreaking. [IMPORTANT] In the end, my mother was awarded $150,000. We now have 6 months to refinance the home and pay her that amount. If we can’t, the house will be forcefully sold.  I can’t even describe the sadness of that day. I watched my mother walk out of the courtroom smiling beside the man she left my father for, while my dad walked out in tears after years of sacrificing everything for us.  But even then, he didn’t get angry. He got in the car, forced a smile, and suggested we all go eat lunch together so the day wouldn’t feel ruined for us.  That hurt more than anything.  After everything he’s endured, he never abandoned us. He never stopped trying to be the best father he could possibly be.  Now next month should be one of the happiest moments for our family because my youngest sister is graduating high school at the top of her class. She’s worked unbelievably hard and has huge dreams ahead of her. But instead of celebrating properly, our entire household is crushed under the stress of trying to save our home while dealing with debt and impossible financial pressure. We want to help my younger sister through college, but right now everything feels uncertain.  Meanwhile my mother is living comfortably, financially stable, and completely disconnected from the family she left behind.  I’m honestly just desperate to help my family. I want my father to finally have one victory after everything he’s sacrificed for us.  Any support truly means more than I can explain. Even a small donation helps us more than you know. And if you can’t donate, simply sharing our story means the world to me too.  Please also check out my TikTok and help share our story there as well. Thank you so much for reading.