Medical and Legal Expenses for Amari

On behalf of the Marsh family, please join us in prayer for our daughter Amari as we all deal with this unfathomable tragedy. Thank you for all of the prayers and support you've offered us.

Amari and her family need financial support to pay for medical expenses and legal representation. Amari, a senior in college, will be unable to work for the foreseeable future as she and her family contend with the life-altering impacts of this tragedy.

Our family, along with anyone who has met our daughter, can all attest to Amari's generosity, kindness, helpfulness, and genuineness. We appreciate your support since it shows that you are someone who is always there to lend a hand.

AMARI’S MESSAGE

I appreciate everyone's encouragement and kindness. The outpouring of support I've felt from this community has been tremendous, and your kindness has given me renewed energy to pursue healing. I recognize and value each of you.

Many have expressed their inability to even fathom the experience, and they would be correct in saying that nothing could prepare them for it. Trauma, shock, and mental stress are unbearable and never-ending. Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of it, and the few hours of sleep I do get each night are spent dreaming about it. My parents have always shown me their unconditional love, and I feel the same way about them. Without my family—especially my mom, dad, and sister—I would be lost.

My family is the best thing that ever happened to me. I take so much pride in being the daughter of two wonderful parents. I also try to make an effort to be the best role model for my sister too and I’ve always reminded myself that each day with them is a gift. My mom, who is usually up first, would come into my room, call my name, and say it’s time to get up and start a new day. My dad would typically come in later and say it’s time to get up and pray. Even when I was away at school, we always started our days together, praying, and talking about making today better than yesterday so that tomorrow can be better than today. They gave me purpose and I never took it for granted.

Our family motto is God, Family, Education, and we were always taught to keep God first in everything we do. Through all of the ups and downs, I have had the opportunity to see my parents persevere and they have taught my sister and me to do the same. To say that my parents have a heart for people is an understatement. They are not only good parents to my sister and I, but they are generous beyond the norm of what I have seen in my short life. One of their best qualities that I try to imitate is their pure kindness towards not only people they know but those they don’t.

The stress and pressure of trying to keep up my grades to maintain my scholarships, and finish school, along with working can be a lot on someone who is pregnant and for me, it was just that. The evening I prematurely went into labor took a lot out of me physically and mentally. The emotional trauma of that night will forever be with me, and I was and still am unsure about my time to grieve and how to process everything that has happened. Currently, I have pending criminal charges of negligent homicide, and I am facing 20 years to life. I am also being portrayed in a not-so-positive light by people who have never met or know me. It is very difficult right now, but I am thankful for the support of my family. They have been and will always be my inspiration. From my mother showing how to carry myself like a queen, to my father demonstrating how a king should treat a queen and to always look to God for my source of strength.

I'm reaching out to you all because I want you to know me as the kind, respectful, loving, and caring person I truly am. To find peace within myself, I am currently focusing on my mental and emotional healing. This task, together with reestablishing my sense of direction, is going to require a great deal of my attention for the foreseeable future. It's what I owe to myself, my family, my friends and my community. Your support and encouragement will get me started, even if I have no idea how or when I'll be able to complete this task. Thank you for all of your support, this means a lot to me and our family.