A little less than a year and a half ago, we lost our 7 year old son to a rare neurological disease. My husband and I have 2 children, so our 3 year old daughter also lost her brother. For the last 2 years of his life, I did not work,  I cared for him… that alone was more than a full time job with a feeding tube, a trach and more. About 6 months after he passed, our resources had run dry and, though I didn’t feel I was ready, I returned to work as a hairstylist. The intense, busy nature of the salon and constant new interactions were more than my grieving mama heart could handle.  A day came where I just couldn’t go… I chose to take a leave of absence on the risk of not paying bills because I was emotionally breaking down.

Our world was so totally shattered. Then, I learned about The BeliEve Foundation. We reached out desperate for a little grace as a year after child loss… many people have moved on while our world continued to stand still. The Believe Foundation gave us the financial security to take that leave from work and I actually now have gone to lesser part time and found a new job that is much calmer.

Without the help of The BeliEve Foundation, we would be drowning in debt. They saved us from losing the footing we had gained while our minds and hearts had a little more time to heal. What they are doing is an incredibly needed service in a world no one even wants to think about, but sometimes we do lose children and they make it so that doesn’t also mean we lose homes, cars, or good credit we worked hard for. Money unfortunately does have to matter in these situations, so it’s good to have an amazing foundation like this serving this heartbroken community. Thank you so much from the bottom of our healing hearts!

~Kari O., Bereaved Mother and BeliEver