PRICELE$$ PAIN The cost of Sexual Assault. Rape Is Real 806

Mandy Dawn Sherman is organizing this fundraiser on behalf of John Gonzales.

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Hello... My name is Mandy. Most people know me as The Brat. I would like to take this opportunity to tell everyone a little bit about myself and my situation. This is going to be very difficult, and please forgive me if I get too graphic or if my emotions make me sound like I am weak or that I may be mentally challenged or incompetent. I am far from stupid; in fact, I am a very intelligent woman, and I hate that I even have to resort to asking anyone for help. But I have spent quite a bit of time thinking and praying, as well as talking to many different people about the whole idea of GoFundMe being something I should consider, and well... I chose to go ahead and do it.
My purpose for this fundraiser is to raise enough money to assure that I can get all my financial needs acquired as quickly as possible to first provide myself with a safe and stable place to live and the household items to furnish it and make sure I have food, cleaning supplies, and the necessary things to conduct my personal business, which is going to be my main priority from the minute I am able to make it all more than a hope. I can find a way to make my idea a reality with ducks in a row, so I have a guaranteed foundation to begin my journey to what I pray will most importantly begin to deal and heal with my own situation and at the same time draw in others who are in the same kind of place I have found to be my so-called life at this moment.
I am unfortunately the victim of a brutal sexual assault that changed every single part of who I was just 9 months ago. On the 29th of June, 2024, I was a happy, healthy, carefree, pretty average female, with not too many things holding me back from whatever I wanted to do. I was independent, self-sufficient, and never really paid much thought to the reality that MONSTERS DO EXIST AND LIFE IS NO FAIRY TALE LIKE I WAS RAISED TO BELIEVE BEING A LITTLE PRINCESS TO AN ALMOST PERFECT FAMILY. I NEVER IN ALL MY LIFE HAD ANY THOUGHT OR FEAR THAT I WOULD ONE DAY BE FORCED TO KNOW ABOUT THE REALITY OF RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. It all changed that very minute around midnight, right in the middle of public and without any warning or opportunity to prepare myself for the hell that has been my daily battle since I was dragged into the dark alley and raped and brutally beaten for over an hour right in the backyard of my husband's house where my friend lived on Houston Street, one block away from the Amarillo Blvd. and the Toot'n-Totem on the corner of Mirror, a store I was in at least once a day every day if not more. I never had a second thought that this night would be any different than every other before. THAT IS WHERE I WAS DEAD WRONG. AND ONLY BY THE GRACE OF GOD AM I LUCKY ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY BE ALIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT. But that's all I am now is alive. Physically per se, because since that night I am just alive, a shell of the life I lived and the person I was for 46 years and 9 months ago today. I have spent every second of every minute, hour, day, week, month FOR ALMOST A WHOLE YEAR ALREADY, TRYING TO FIND ANY UNDERSTANDING, PEACE, OR ESCAPE FROM THE NIGHTMARE I HAVE KNOWN TO BE MY EXISTENCE. MY WHOLE WORLD IS DIFFERENT. I AM NOTHING BUT AN EMPTY, SAD, SCARED, and CONFUSED AND Physically, mentally, and emotionally wrecked, lost, and numb resemblance of anything close to Mandy then and whoever I am now.
So I have no choice but to face reality, pick up all the pieces, and try to put this puzzle back together again, and the only way that I see that happening is to find a reason that I actually did live. If that is to help one person in the whole world be aware that this kind of thing can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime, and when you least expect it, your whole life will change and there will be nothing you can do. Then it will be too late. But after almost dying from the injuries of the hour-long fight for my life where I suffered massive head trauma, physical pain, and suffering that affects me every single day to the point that I can barely walk or talk because my teeth were knocked out or think or function as I did before, due to the fact that my face was covered and I didn't breathe to the point I passed out three times, my memory is affected, my speech, my every part of my whole entire everything is different, which keeps me from any kind of ability to maintain a normal life, much less support myself or function in society. But I have no choice but to get up and move on, and that is why I'm asking for any help possible to start over and hopefully heal from all of this damage in time. I want to start some kind of organization or local public awareness about sexual assault in Amarillo, a start-over survivor somewhere to go while we sort through the mess and have a positive, safe environment to rehabilitate and get past the aftershock of this traumatic tragedy.

I would appreciate any donations, support, encouragement, or advice. And if nothing else, PRAYER. GOD BLESS ALL WHO HELP.