Good evening
This is a rather long story, but I’ll try to make it as short as possible.
In 2018, I lived in Coral Springs, Florida. On Valentine’s Day, there was a shooting at a local high school less than 3 miles from our home. I didn’t know it then, but this would start a domino effect on my mental health. Because Coral Springs and Parkland are very close in proximity, the majority of the funerals were held in my city. Our main street is University Drive, there is a funeral home where they had funerals each day for weeks. I was in a fetal position, in bed, for over two weeks; it hit me so hard.
In 2017, I got my bachelor’s degree in biomedical science and had dreams of becoming a PA working for the Veterans Administration Hospital. Unfortunately, my GPA wasn’t high enough, so the next route was to obtain a masters degree to boost my GPA- I have 16 credits to go and have a 3.87 gpa.
Weeks before COVID began, I started having panic attacks out of nowhere. The program material was challenging, but not really difficult. I decided that I needed to go back into therapy. I looked into several studies that John Hopkins was doing and one of them was a psilocybin research study for deep depression. I called the research office and spoke to a psychiatry intern. He performed a questionnaire on me. The result was rather surprising, as I was not only suffering from severe depression and ADHD (inattentive type), but the primary diagnosis was bipolar type 2. It was devastating. I was happy that I was able to put a name to all the confusing feelings and thoughts running through me. I made an appointment with a psychiatrist, and she started me on meds. The new type of bipolar meds that are out there caused me such horrific limb pain that I was unable to walk. Eleven combinations of medications, and 4 years later, I have been labeled as treatment resistant. They don’t know how to treat my condition. I have never shied away from my diagnosis, in fact, during my time as a student, I constantly shared my story in hopes of helping someone else.
My husband and I have been very fortunate, we each run our own businesses. He is a one-man electrical contractor and my previous business was a Permitting consultant in Florida. We got married in 2011- prior to that I was a single mom. Owning my own business gave me flexibility for my kid’s needs.
In 2023, I decided that since my kids were older and out of the house, I would follow my dream for a career in healthcare.
I got accepted to a chiropractic program, which I happily started last year. The program is pretty intense so I had to close 90% of my business. I still have very loyal customers that call me when they have issues; in that aspect I’m very blessed.
Earlier this year, my husband was diagnosed with a rather large aortic aneurysm (4.5 cm). He has been experiencing severe chest pain and shortness of breath, so I finally pushed him to go to his doctor and get a referral for a cardiologist . When they performed the CT to confirm the size, they found he also has emphysema and nodules (masses) in his lungs . He hasn’t smoked since he was 20. He’s an electrician so he’s always working inside attics . They’re making the assumption that it’s either from fiberglass insulation or asbestos. He’s been in the trade since he was 15 years old and he’s 62 now.
In 2021, we relocated to the Treasure Coast from South Florida. We were looking to slow down our pace of life; we love where we live presently . We took on a fixer-upper and really transformed it into something beautiful. Late last year, we decided that it was time to sell our home; the kids were no longer living with us and we did not need such a large house. Unfortunately, because of the market, we have been unable to sell the home. We were looking to obtain enough money to put a healthy down payment for a smaller house with proceeds from the sale and still be able to house ourselves and the puppies.
We have six dogs. Currently, three dogs (Indie, Mylo, and Bailey) are ours, and three others were acquired in different circumstances.
When we still lived in South Florida, we became an active volunteer/donor to a local animal rescue. My husband and I have over 3000 volunteer hours fostering dogs for another rescue in Virginia. The local rescue had two dogs that were confiscated from a home. The dogs were never inside and were chained to their crates at all times. They were skinny. They were full of mange, full of fleas and ticks. No one wanted to take them because they were pit bulls. We opened our home with the promise that the rescue would cover all of their expenses, including food and medicine. We would foster them for a few months until they could get them a more permanent foster. Four years later, we still had them. The first couple of days, one of the Pitbulls killed our cat; he has a very strong prey drive. Though we were heartbroken, we did not give up on Marshall (male) and Piggy (female). Piggy was the most loving dog you could ever imagine, at one point we wanted to keep her, but they grew up together and would start crying if they were not within earshot of each other; we could not separate them. In the meantime, I kept in constant contact with the rescue for placement possibilities, but they had nowhere to put them. I stressed to them that both dogs were living in my office. Of course, we had a huge backyard and they were allowed to frolic and run -we would also walk them twice daily, but because of Marshall’s erratic behavior with other dogs, we had to keep them separate from our dogs.
Fast forward to last year. I came home from school, and my room was covered in blood. I don’t know what occurred, but Marshall viciously attacked Piggy. We had to rush her to the hospital, but they couldn’t save her- the damage was too much. We had to put her down; we still mourn her on a daily basis; as does Marshall. Even though this happened, we kept Marshall. He has to be kept separate from the other dogs – he has no problem with people.
At this point, the rescue had ghosted us, even though we never received any help from them. He’s had two instances of cancer we’ve tried to keep under control. We just want to make him as comfortable as possible during his time left. The other two fosters we have were basically abandoned by their owners. One is a very high anxiety ridden German Shepherd (Jaxx) and the other one is a goofy goldendoodle named Oliver.
The reason I’m bringing all this up. We are in danger of losing our house due to my husband’s loss of income and health condition. My giving up my business to start school didn’t help either. Each month, we struggle to pay the mortgage. At one point, I was helping my kids with their bills to help them save money for a rainy day , but right now I’m barely making it.
Being homeless is not an option for us. We made a commitment to these dogs and we intend to keep it. We have to keep afloat long enough for the house to sell so we can get another home.
I am not one to ask for help, I’m usually the one giving it. We are in a very desperate situation. I lie awake at night waiting to hear sounds of the tow truck coming to repossess our cars or a notice put on our door that they’ve started foreclosure proceedings. I am so very blessed God has interceded and provided me with jobs from former clients, but drips and drabs doesn’t even touch the amount of debt we are in. We put every penny we had to update the house to attract potential buyers, but in doing that, we have caused ourselves a difficult financial predicament – unfortunately we were unable to predict what would happen with my husband.
Due to rental properties being so expensive, my daughter and my grandchild have been living with us. Two months ago, he started experiencing seizures 3 to 5 times a day. They don’t know why, they just started out of nowhere. They are getting worse, but worst of all, he’s become nonverbal; he has no way of communicating with us so he becomes very frustrated.
With everything going on, including my mom being in the last stage of Alzheimer’s, my husband‘s and grandson’s condition, I received a failing grade in 2 courses and was suspended for a semester of school. I will go back in August. To say all this has been heartbreaking is a huge understatement. In the meantime, I have started organizing a mental health campaign on my campus, by establishing peer-to-peer counseling, a gym and sensitivity training for both students and faculty by next semester- a large portion of our student body are veterans. I’m following through on my promise to myself to destigmatize mental illness. I’ve already started laying the groundwork to work for the Veterans Administration Hospital system. I will be obtaining different certifications that help with PTSD, depression, and other types of mental illness to help my patients heal from inside out.
The reason I’m offering my freakin’ life story – we are financially dying , We need a minimum of $30,000, but $50,000 would give us a leg up to get us caught up on everything and keep us afloat for 6 months. I want to trade in my car and get a used Tesla since I’m driving over 200 miles a day to get to school- between the gas,my car payment and insurance it would be a huge savings. I have to keep the house going until we sell it and with Todd not working a full schedule , it’s been very difficult.
i’m sorry if I bored you, but I wanted you to have a full picture of everything going on. Anything you can do would be so greatly appreciated, and of course it would be paid forward in so many ways once I finish school.
thank you and God Bless…..Ilma
My Zelle number is ILMA@PROTECTURFAMILY.COM.