Story

In August 2023, my dad had a stroke, so I rushed to Michigan from Alabama and spent a couple of weeks out of work. Then again in September, he was back in the hospital, and I spent another week out of work. In December, he fell and had a hematoma of the brain. We lost him 3 days later, and I spent 3 weeks out of work.

My work is cleaning homes. I had 10 clients but lost 3 due to all the family emergencies. My stepmom was left without her 24-hour care. She has MS and no longer has movement of her legs and is fully assisted in and out of bed. So, in June 2024, I moved my mom and sister to Michigan from Alabama to help my other sister care for our stepmom.

In August of 2024, my mom had a TIA, and I spent 5 weeks in Michigan caring for my mom, getting her better and on the right track to a long life. Fast forward to yesterday, I’m back in Michigan because my uncle, whom I’m like a daughter to and his emergency contact (no spouse or kids of his own), had emergency surgery to remove a 9cm aneurysm. The surgery was a success, but he has a long road ahead of him. I’m currently looking at several weeks of no pay again.

This is the last place I expected to have to turn to, but my family is out of options. I’ve exhausted all savings due to the last year and a half of family emergencies. My uncle is 70 years old, and we were getting ready to move him down to Alabama with us because his situation could no longer cover the increase in his living expenses. I’m asking for help to cover the lost wages for me as well as the expenses my uncle is going to incur in his recovery from major surgery. I left my husband and my cat back in Alabama and worry about them as well because my husband is disabled, so we have very limited income. I worry about them being able to eat as well as our monthly bills being covered for the next couple of months that I’m out of work taking care of family.