After years of struggling with PTSD and GAD from past trauma, I decided with the last pieces of my determination to put my past behind me and do everything I ever wanted to do in life. My husband of 13 years has supported me and my two children for 16 years and has stood by my side through every hardship, including an undiagnosed trauma that left me in a coma on life support for five days. My husband simply found me on the couch barely breathing, in which I had aspirated and was later told I was within an hour of not surviving. This took a hard toll on my husband's mental health, as he blamed himself for not being there at the exact time. This downward spiral continued. In October 2021 my husband's parents were both diagnosed with COVID. My husband's father has terminal cancer and we were quite scared. But things turned out differently than we could ever expect. With minor symptoms, his father was doing well and his mother decided to go to the hospital as she was having painful abdominal pain. That was the last time we saw her alive. We were refused to see her by hospital staff, even after she recovered from COVID, only to succumb to pneumonia and sadly passed away with only to be with her over a phone call while she passed. This affected my husband immensely and in all the years I have known this man I had never seen him shut down and close off completely. Work was in the slow season, and my husband being a painter for over 20 years had never struggled to work and in fact worked 6-7 days a week to support our family. This was sadly just the beginning of what yet was to come. As I started my own business and was healing and finding my strength, my husband took another trauma. On a lunch break during work, he decided to stop in to visit a close friend, only to find him not breathing. After what happened to me not too long ago he was able to provide CPR and call for help in which they were able to revive him. Because he was out for so long without oxygen, he was put into a coma to only awaken a week later with brain damage that has him believing he is still in high school and he has lost his family and kids and my husband blames himself for everything. He started slowing down with work and as my business was new we were really starting to struggle as my husband was spiralling into deep depression and no doctors could help.

This was an omen of what was going to happen on October 12, 2022. While separated from friends for only minutes late that night, I was sitting in a friend's truck to stay warm when a man jumped in and abducted me. He took me to a home where for 9 hours I was physically and sexually assaulted. I was told repeatedly that I was going to die, I was smothered repeatedly, and I begged to be left where my family could find me. By the grace of God, he let me leave with only a child-size pair of shorts and a bra. I had no idea where I was, I was not in my city or recognized anything. A homeless man gave me his shirt to cover up and two strangers paid for me to get home with an Uber as I was in shock and refused to talk about what had happened. I was far from home and had myself dropped off at my office as it was the closest. I then immediately called my husband, who came right away. I was seriously injured and he convinced me to go to the hospital where a forensic nurse spent 6 hours attending to my wounds and taking evidence. My husband again blamed himself and couldn't handle what had happened to me. He pulled back from work and completely shut down.

I was determined to not be a victim and my business was helping women overcome trauma, I pushed myself hard to provide for my husband's health and to recover through healing others. It all was too much and I went into a very dark place and both my husband and I found ourselves fighting to survive. I had to close my business and sell everything in it to pay rent and bills as my husband's work was drying up fast. We had our car repossessed, sold a lot of personal belongings and downsized to a tiny one-bedroom home to try to maintain our lives. Bills became too much and I tried to work online from home and my husband couldn't make it to work without a vehicle and even to take a bus(which are buses are on strike right now and have been for months) he wouldn't be able to carry his supplies.

We were evicted from our home. We lost both our dogs and were on the streets in the rain as there were no shelter spaces open for one week. We met a woman who is letting us stay in her second apartment for a few days and if we can come up with the money we can rent it. our one dog has found a home living with our son and our second dog was badly injured in a dog fight that almost killed her and cost $900 to save her which these men offered to pay and help take care of her but now won't give her back or let us visit her until we pay the bill. She has separation anxiety and was rescued by us 6 years ago and is our life. She must think we have abandoned her. We have only gotten two pictures.

The money we need would go towards rent, moving costs(storage fees, moving truck, etc.) a cheap $1500 car to get my husband to work, and replacing work supplies/tools he sold. Pay "Baby's vet bill so she can return home! Mental health care for my trauma at a facility and counselling help for my husband.

I know there are worse things that happen to good people and the last thing I wanted was to reach out for help. Maybe it was pride or that somehow things would work out, I just don't understand how all this could happen in such a short time and we don't have a family to help us through. Once back on our feet, stable, and working, I would like to match every investment to free care as frequently as possible to help others overcome trauma through my business.

Thank you to all or anyone that can help and can truly see that we just need a little help to get back to a place where we can begin again.