Support McNamara's Journey to Stability

I am asking for help. I have survived a great deal of loss and instability throughout my life, but the loss of my mother in 2024 combined with the loss of my father on March 11 has devastated me emotionally and financially. The ground that I stood on for 48 years has disappeared, and I am seeking help achieving financial security.

At the age of 10 my life irrevocably changed when I was poisoned by the misuse of organophosphate pesticides in my Indiana elementary school and became bedridden. I was eventually diagnosed with acute multiple environmental chemical sensitivities. Any semblance of normalcy flew out the window and decades of instability followed, as I began reacting to everything including food, water, clothing, bedding, soaps, personal care products, fragrances of all kinds, the gas furnace, pesticides, herbicides including the neighbors’ Chem-Lawn and the farmers’ agricultural sprays, and the polluted air pouring forth from the nearby steel mills. My doctor recommended moving which resulted in a years-long cross-country odyssey to find a tolerable place to live. At the time, we knew little about the many forms of outdoor and indoor pollution that my body could not handle including a black mold exposure that resulted in mold illness. The car became my refuge followed by a long stint living on the balcony of a hotel. Eventually my mom and I moved to a small house in Arizona in 2005, but we discovered a mold issue and have been unable to remediate due to lack of funds. As a result, I have had to spend the majority of the last twenty years outside or in the car; yet it is the only house since my birth home that I have been able to spend any length of time inside to bathe and prepare meals.

Despite the years of sickness and instability, I was able to obtain a remote BA in English graduating summa cum laude with the goal of becoming a writer. But this was years before Zoom and being nearly 2,000 miles away from campus I missed out on internships, networking, and other opportunities of career development and advancement. In addition, the stress of those college years took a toll, and my body crashed. Soon after, my mother left to go back to Indiana after my grandmother’s passing, but she never came back, as she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. While my mom was battling cancer, I had a stroke in late 2022 following two massive herbicide exposures. Within a span of a few days, I was given multiple MRIs, CT scans, and electrical heart tests. After all of the testing I developed an extreme sensitivity to the electromagnetic fields emitted by such things as smartphones, Wi-Fi, and laptops. To prevent another stroke, I was told to avoid any further stress on my body whether emotional or environmental. I was also given a preliminary diagnosis of Ehlers Danlos syndrome in 2024, but I have not had the funds or ability to travel for the necessary confirmatory genetic testing. In addition, just before my mom died, I was given the following evaluation: “This examiner has evaluated and treated patients with toxic/neurotoxic exposures and chemical/environmental sensitivity for approximately 40 years, beginning in graduate school in the inpatient unit for environmentally ill patients in Bedford, Texas. Ms. McNamara’s degree of sensitivity and illness are among the worst observed...It is highly unlikely that she will ever be healed of her severe chemical/environmental sensitivities by traditional or even environmental medicine interventions. Obtaining a safe home environment is imperative for any improvement in Ms. McNamara’s condition and which she has been unable to accomplish.”

My dad died on March 11, and the shaky house of cards that has been my life completely collapsed. My dad died without a will and in serious debt; the Az house I am in is set to be divided amongst his four children. To keep what has been my home for twenty years, I would have to buy out my three siblings. With the death of my father, I am without an income; I have exhausted all of my savings; and I am at risk of homelessness. My mother’s death left me with $11,000 worth of her debt, and I have since accumulated my own debt of $6,000. I have been unable to find a job that does not involve intolerable environmental exposures or a remote job that allows for limited time on the computer and telephone. I am not eligible for traditional disability, only the more restrictive $967 a month maximum SSI which I have not been able to secure.

For the first time in my life, I am all alone, as my remaining family members are unable or unwilling to assist me. I am now asking for crowdfunding help to be able to get back on my feet, deal with my many losses, get out of day-to-day survival mode so that my nervous system can rest, and develop a plan to get on solid footing without my parents’ care and support. Thank you for donating if you are able, sharing if you are willing, and offering your prayers if you pray.

Immediate donations will go toward very urgent daily living expenses to ensure my survival. My ultimate goal with this fundraiser is to prevent a slide into homelessness, as with my sensitivities I will not survive. If this fundraiser achieved social media/viral success, my ultimate goal would be to secure a future for myself and to be able to keep the home I have been living in for twenty years by buying out my siblings and renovating it so that it could be a safe living environment for me to recover.