Mentally-ill POC caregiver needs transportation!

Hi everyone! It's me, Kev. As many of you know, especially my friends and family...I am a caregiver for my diabetic grandmother who is in the late stages of dementia. My sister and I have no financial help from the state, and we do not qualify for many reasons. We both work full-time hours while trying to maintain our own health, school, rent, and other responsibilities while also trying to take care of my grandma.

My sister is responsible for housing my grandma while she is working full-time and in the process and finishing school to get her degree for a better future, and that leaves me the job of scheduling my grandma's appointments, distributing her medication, making sure she is safe, fed, and maintains her overall health.

We have now been full-time caregivers for my grandma for about 6 years now, which means I was only 19 when I had no choice for what path my life was going to take. Rose raised me from birth and gave me everything she had, and now I feel it is my responsibility to care for her in her final years.

We have tried everything in the past 6 years to help our situation, but now as her late stages progress we are both struggling with no help from family, and dealing with caregiver burn-out. Along with that, I suffer majorly from diagnosed mental-illness such as, ADHD, BPD, OCD, and have been hospitalized many times due to this, including twice this year. This makes it extremely hard for me to get through the basic everyday parts of my life as it is.

I have mentally lost the only parental figure in my life who helped guide me; and I lost her at an age where I wasn't quite done needing her. I struggle a lot with feeling like I wasn't given a chance at life, but I am maintaining hope and trying to take care of my mental health, do things that make me happy, all while maintaining my priorities.

Because I started care giving at such a young age, I wasn't able to set aside time for myself and my future. I didn't have the chance to focus on school, start driving, or learn basic life skills in a healthy way. I've had everything thrown at me and have had to figure out how to get by on my own, with the help of good friends.

I am currently in the process of getting my license as I am finally in a good time slot to do so while my sister is on her summer break for school. I haven't had the time these past years, nor have I had the opportunity to save up to do so. The money I work hard for goes to rent, necessities, food, TRANSPORTATION and now driving classes.

These funds will help me to get a car so that I can finally open up more opportunities for myself and not have to plan my days according to someone else's schedule. This will help me get where I need to go when I need to go. I can go to work without paying for $20+ Lyfts or having to wake up my roommate early on her days off to take me to work, then to check on my grandma. It will help me take her to her appointments so that I don't have to wait til my sister has a day off because there are a lot of times that she needs to go sooner, but I am not able to get her there. Lastly, it will help me take more steps to gaining independence for myself so that I can take steps to improve my life as well so that I can start creating my future. For example, I will be able to go to therapy consistently, find jobs that pay more because they require driving so that I am able to save more money and possibly have a better schedule to be there for my grandma, and hopefully go back to school which is my greatest wish.

A little balance is all I need right now, and I feel like having transportation is the best place to start. If you know me, I am really stubborn when it comes to asking for help...so this is how I know I've hit rock bottom. I love and appreciate you all and I understand more than anything that times are hard, so if you can't donate right now, I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

With Love,

Kev, Amber, and Rose