Hello, cherished supporters and dearest friends,
I’m reaching out with heartfelt gratitude for your time in reading our unique family story. We’re a family of four, each of us navigating the complexities of being neurodivergent and living with disabilities. Yes, all of us – myself, my beloved husband of 22 years, and our two daughters, aged 15 and 13. Our journey may seem extraordinary, and it is, in both its challenges and joys.
In brief (because our full story is quite a tale!), our family tapestry is woven with a range of conditions including epilepsy, autism, Tourette’s, ADHD, and a spectrum of physical disabilities, the most significant being the aftereffects of a stroke I suffered in my early 40s. For over two decades, we’ve been a team, facing each hurdle with resilience, but recent events have brought us to a crucial juncture.
My husband, the rock of our family, has been laid off due to his disability, putting us at risk of losing our home. Our dream is to grow our travel business, into a sustainable support for our family. Additionally, I’m pursuing a career in real estate to further boost our finances. However, to achieve these goals, we urgently need financial support. We’re looking to raise $50,000 to replace my husband’s lost income and an additional $20-30,000 to kickstart our business ventures. While it’s a substantial sum, every contribution brings us closer to stability and independence.
A little about us:
- My husband battles weekly with intractable epilepsy and is also autistic. Despite these challenges, he’s an incredibly brilliant and compassionate individual, often misunderstood due to his atypical facial expressions.
- Our 15-year-old daughter, a gifted artist, also deals with intractable epilepsy alongside Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. She faces life with unparalleled optimism and a smile that lights up our world.
- Our youngest, 13, shares her sister’s journey with epilepsy and has Tourette’s and anxiety. She’s a constant source of joy and creativity, sharing her talents in both art and writing.
Our lives are a testament to the unbreakable bond and love we share as a family. If there’s one thing I’m proudest of, it’s these incredible souls I’ve brought into the world.
As for me, my health journey has been a rollercoaster, with diagnoses ranging from fibromyalgia to a recent discovery of fibromuscular dysplasia. I’ve faced multiple surgeries, a stroke, the recent discovery of a brain tumor, and ongoing challenges, but my spirit remains undeterred.
Your support, in any amount, means the world to us. It’s not just financial aid; it’s an affirmation of faith in our family’s resilience and dreams. For those who contribute, we offer heartfelt thanks and, if desired, a piece of our creativity – original art created by my talented daughters.
With your help, we hope not just to survive but to thrive and, in time, pay forward your generosity through a non-profit foundation we dream of establishing.
Thank you for being part of our story.
Our love story began in college, a classic tale of young love blossoming into a lifelong partnership. My husband, embodying kindness, gentleness, and intelligence, captivated my heart from the start. He often speaks highly of me, but that’s a story for another day.
Tragedy struck just months before our wedding. A disability-associated misunderstanding led to him being assaulted by an upstairs neighbor, leaving him with a black eye and a ruptured disk in his lower spine. The attacker, shielded by his father’s legal influence, drew my husband into a legal battle where, despite being the victim, he faced charges. Miraculously, due to the judicial necessity of equal sentencing, the charges were eventually dropped.
Amid this turmoil, my soon-to-be mother-in-law faced her own battle with what was initially diagnosed as stage 3-a breast cancer, later revealed as a more advanced stage. She fought valiantly for nearly two decades before succumbing in 2019.
Our wedding period was marked by more than just vows; it involved hospital stays for both of us – his back surgery and my kidney stone treatment. Our honeymoon was ironically spent in recovery rooms, an anecdote we now share with a mix of humor and disbelief.
Dreaming of starting a family, we faced the hurdle of infertility due to endometriosis and PCOS. Despite the financial and emotional strains, and the inability to afford IVF, we were blessed with our first child after a year of treatment with Clomid. The pregnancy was fraught with challenges, including severe swelling and a risky delivery that narrowly avoided a c-section.
Our daughter’s arrival brought joy and new challenges. A persisting “newborn murmur” led to the diagnosis of muscular VSD, a heart condition that thankfully resolved by the time she was three. Each hurdle we faced only strengthened our bond and resolve, forging a family narrative of resilience, love, and unshakable commitment.
In the shadow of the Great Recession, life dealt us a challenging hand. My husband, then a new college professor, faced a mass layoff. With his modest salary of $30,000 and our decision for me to be a stay-at-home mom for our daughter’s medical needs, we had no savings to fall back on. When the layoff news came in May, it was too late in the academic hiring season to find another teaching job.
With limited options, we turned to our families. His parents were unable to take us in. Thankfully, my parents, who lived in another state, opened their doors. We sold nearly everything we owned, keeping only our essentials, and embarked on a night drive to a new beginning. My husband, determined to contribute, took up lawn care for my parents and found work at Publix in the produce department, later transitioning to an insurance adjuster.
During this tumultuous time, we discovered I was pregnant again. Amidst the uncertainty, our joy was tempered with concern when we learned our unborn child had rare lung tumors. Choosing to continue the pregnancy, we welcomed our second daughter into the world under high-risk circumstances. She faced her own battles, struggling to gain weight due to a misdiagnosed lung condition, finally resolved through lung surgery when she was just one year of age.
Eventually, a new opportunity arose, and my husband secured a teaching position at a small state college. This prompted another move, this time nine hours away. Despite a slight increase in salary to $40,000, making ends meet for our family of four was a daily struggle. We made sacrifices to ensure our daughters never felt the pinch.
I dedicated those years to raising our girls and furthering my education. I completed my graduate studies while supporting my husband, all while managing a household. Once our daughters started public school, I re-entered the workforce, this time as a fellow professor, following in my husband’s footsteps. Our journey has been marked by resilience, love, and an unwavering commitment to our family’s wellbeing.
In the whirlwind of life, my husband and I found ourselves navigating a maze of financial tightropes and personal challenges. Working full-time, we earned just enough to scrape by, chipping away at the mountain of debt from relocations and medical expenses. We prioritized our daughters’ needs above all, sacrificing our own luxuries. Our date nights? Simple yet precious – a home-cooked meal and a movie on TV. Vacations were a rare treat, possible only thanks to my husband’s grandmother’s generosity with her beach house.
Then came a turning point. After a seizure-induced fall at work, my husband faced the ordeal of negotiating work-from-home accommodations – a process marred by misunderstandings of the ADA and intrusive questions. Despite the hurdles, his dedication shone through, and he secured the needed arrangement, a solution that lasted six years until a change in leadership upended our hard-won stability.
Our daughters, both bright and thriving in gifted programs, faced their own battles with epilepsy. A frightening reaction to medication for our youngest was the last straw. We made the heart-wrenching decision to withdraw them from public school, choosing to educate them ourselves. It wasn’t just a matter of academic rigor but a profound commitment to their health and wellbeing, especially in the face of indifference from those who were supposed to care.
In the next chapter of our rollercoaster story, life threw us a curveball that reshaped our professional landscape. After my stroke post-parathyroid surgery, I found myself in the same boat as my husband, needing the flexibility to work from home. You’d think this would be straightforward, right? But no, our journey took a twist worthy of a dramatic novel.
Our dean, who stepped into her role around the same time, seemed to believe I was conjuring up my disability. Despite my history of being a high-achieving, award-winning professor, she had me jumping through hoops to secure the work-from-home accommodations I was legally entitled to. And this wasn’t just a one-time thing – oh no, it was an annual performance, proving time and again that my disability hadn’t magically vanished.
The plot thickens with our dean’s perspective on our situation. She saw our disabilities not as challenges we were overcoming but as unfair advantages. She turned up the heat with her micromanagement, scrutinizing our work to the extent that it took a toll on my mental health. My application for tenure was a saga in itself, initially denied under the most bewildering reasons but eventually granted on appeal – a victory that only seemed to deepen her resentment.
Opportunities began to slip away, like sand through our fingers. Advising clubs, participating in committees, all the vibrant parts of campus life we loved – she made sure they were just out of reach for us. My bid for promotion? Denied, with my achievements twisted into negatives. And then, the final blow – my husband was fired, with baseless claims as the reason.
We’re fighting back, legally, against this injustice. But it’s more than just our personal battle. It’s a reflection of a harsher reality – the misunderstanding and mistreatment of people with disabilities. It’s a misconception that disability equates to laziness or seeking unwarranted support. But we know the truth – living with a disability isn’t a temporary setback; it’s a lifelong journey of resilience.
So, as we navigate these turbulent waters, legal battles, and the fight for fair treatment, our story isn’t just ours. It’s the story of many who face similar challenges, and it’s a call to action for change, understanding, and true support for those living with disabilities.
Let’s dive into the chapter of our lives where resilience meets reality, and dreams are waiting to be unlocked! My husband and I, you see, aren’t the types to sit back and wait for the world to roll out the red carpet for us. Yes, we both qualify for disability, but let’s be real – those checks aren’t going to cover the mountain of bills that greet us every morning. So, what did we do? We rolled up our sleeves and got to work!
We poured our hearts and souls into creating a travel agency, named after our two rays of sunshine, our daughters. But here’s the twist – a business without customers is like a plane without wings. We’re ready for takeoff but need a little help getting into the sky.
Meanwhile, I’ve plunged into the world of real estate, studying to be a realtor. I’ve got a fantastic broker lined up who’s as excited as I am to get rolling. But again, it’s the customers that make the business, and we’re just setting up shop.
And here’s where the plot thickens – I’m still working for the person who turned our professional lives upside down. But you know what? I’m not letting her win. I show up every day, determined to give it my all, despite the challenges.
My husband, my partner in crime and courage, has snagged a part-time teaching gig online. It’s a start, but it’s like trying to fill a lake with a teaspoon – his maximum earning potential is a far cry from what we need to keep the lights on and our dreams alive.
I’ve been teaching extra classes too, squeezing every drop out of our day to chip away at our debt. But just when we think we’re making headway, the goalposts move.
So here we are, standing at the crossroads of today and tomorrow, asking for your help to give our travel agency the wings it deserves and to keep us afloat while I transition into real estate. Your support isn’t just about money; it’s about fueling hope, dreams, and the relentless spirit of a family that refuses to give up. Let’s embark on this journey together and watch something beautiful take flight! 🌟✈️🏡
Buckle up, friends, because we’re embarking on an adventure that’s as exciting as it is essential! Our family’s journey has brought us to a junction where we humbly ask for your support. Our goal? To raise $50,000 to keep our ship afloat – this covers the income we’ve lost and puts us on a path to stability and success. Additionally, we’re aiming for $20-30,000 to turn our business dreams into reality.
Here’s the scoop: We need the funds for savvy advertising, joining the local business community’s heartbeat through memberships, and creating some seriously awesome merchandise for our budding travel company. Dreaming of jet-setting again? So are we! We need to fund a trip that will not only rejuvenate our spirits but also provide invaluable content and experience for our business. And let’s not forget the nuts and bolts of running a business – accounting, insurance, licensing, and continuous learning to stay at the top of our game.
But, here’s the beautiful part – every penny you contribute is a building block in our fortress of dreams. Whether it’s a dollar or a dime, your generosity keeps our home warm and our tummies full.
And guess what? We’ve got some delightful perks up our sleeves! For starters, any supporter can receive an exclusive, hand-drawn masterpiece from one of our talented daughters. Need a bespoke piece of art? They’re on it, ready to bring your vision to life overnight.
And there’s more in our treasure trove of gratitude! Alongside the artistic talents of our daughters, we offer another unique perk. If a bespoke piece of art isn’t what you’re looking for, how about a custom poem on any topic of your choice? Our darling daughter, a recently published poet with her book available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, is ready to weave words into magic just for you. Her poetry, praised for its depth and emotion, can be a beautiful, personalized gift or a keepsake for yourself. Just let us know your desired theme, and she will craft a poem that speaks directly to your heart. This is our way of making your generous support even more memorable and special. 📖✍️🌟
But wait, there’s more – we’re all about paying it forward. Your contribution is not just a donation; it’s an investment in hope. We plan to extend your generosity through our non-profit foundation. And hey, why not join us on this exciting venture? Be an investor in our travel and real estate businesses, or our heart-driven non-profit—or invest in both. You’re not just donating; you’re becoming part of a story that changes lives, including your own!
Ready to join our adventure? Let’s make magic happen together! 🚀✨
Imagine a world where the challenges of disability don’t close doors but open new ones to hope and opportunity. That’s the heartbeat of our non-profit dream, “Step In & Step Up.” Our foundation isn’t just an idea; it’s a lifeline. It’s about standing in the gap for those who find the road to employment rugged due to disability – be it their own or their child’s.
We’ve seen firsthand how the job market can be unforgiving for parents of children with epilepsy, often losing their jobs because they need to care for their child or themselves. Our foundation aims to be that much-needed ally, providing financial support for unexpected medical bills, essential medications, and bridging the income gap when employment slips away.
But we’re not stopping there. We want to tackle the root of the problem – the societal misconception that equates ‘different’ with ‘incapable.’ We plan to offer scholarships for medical equipment and educational resources, empowering disabled individuals and their carers with the tools they need to thrive in the workforce.
In our eyes, every person has immense value and potential. By supporting “Step In & Step Up,” you’re not just investing in a foundation; you’re investing in transforming lives and reshaping perspectives on disability and employment. Join us in making this dream a vibrant reality.
https://paypal.me/GeorgiaGrayLily