Mini-Profile
I am a Young married female getting ready to have first child. I am very afraid of what the future holds for me and my family. My life is a hard story to tell, full of hardship. I try to focus on the positive things in life but at the moment they are too few and far between. Of course I do have a husband, and he a very good, kind hearted man. He and I both come from severe poverty, and by saying severe is no exaggeration by any means. I have a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts but of course this turned out to be a big mistake. I was only 21 when I graduated with this degree. I looked very hard for work in this field and have had no luck. I did end up teaching some art classes for the city of Cincinnati recreation commission for a couple of years, and then the program was disbarred by the government, then as I was working an administrative job in cincinnati certain terrible things happened to me that ruined my life. I was severely stalked by an old rich man who was a millionaire business owner. Not only did this put me in serious jeopardy, I had also found myself in a disturbing and very severely abusive relationship with a man who came into my life, presented himself to be someone completely different than he really was, only after he literally in to my apartment he brainwashed me beyond recognition, he was so physically and mentally abusive to me that I have to say it has deeply impacted my life in a negative way. His name was Michael. He was a supervisor at a factory when I met him and he seemed to be a decent guy though a bit eccentric. He moved way too fast into my apartment and I was so young a gullible at the time I was only 23 years old and in the city by myself working two jobs to try to maintain all my bills, which werent cheap in the city by any means. I ended up having to flee the city and the dumb man who I had repeatedly tried to leave, he told me that he would not let me leave him, that if I left him he would kill me and take revenge on my family. He was so lazy, he would not keep a job for more than a month when he did work which was very rarely. I had to call the cops on him several times when he beat me so badly I thought he would kill me so I would find myself calling 911 for help. The cops were so apathetic, they said they could not make him leave the apartment or leave me alone. I should have just gotten in my car and left him with everything behind, but then I was too brainwashed and living in constant fear can really change a person and break them down until they have no more life left in them. Michael did this to me. When I moved back to my hometown when I left Cincinnati he followed me of course. He wreaked havoc on me and my family. He committed a serious crime which he accused me of helping him which I didnt, and he was facing a possibly prison sentence in Cincinnati, and trying to bring me down with him. Thank God the truth was revealed that I was innocent so I never had to face going to prison myself. Anyways when I came back to my home town he followed me down, and again I told him that I did not want him to even contact me anymore, that I wanted him out of my life completely, as I had told him many times before and as usual he threatened me and raped me and beat me, and refused to leave me alone. I had to literally go into hiding, jumping from hotel rooms to spending nights here and there with different friends and family. Anyhow he went insane when he couldnt find me, after he tried very hard for weeks to find me he committed suicide. He shot himself in the head and left a suicide letter written to me that was taped to his chest along with a photo of me. In the letter he told me that it was my fault that he had to kill himself.
Now, I have to back up a little. A month before this monster killed himself, my cousin and lifelong close friend, Cindy, died tragically at the age of 30 while having her baby. An amniotic blood clot went to her lungs during labor and she died suddenly leaving everyone shocked and leaving her family in complete despair. I was also broken hearted already from not only her death but a series of tragic deaths which had occurred in my family the tears before, and I am speaking of tragic, unnatural deaths. All of this lead to me having a nervous breakdown. Afterwards I had trouble finding a decent job, and had trouble keeping a job because of my own mental anguish. I was diagnosed with having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I have it to this day and I can not begin to explain the struggle I have with it.
Anyways I have tried to pick up the pieces of my broken life and shattered dreams and carry on. I did get married at the age of 30, in 2007, for the first time. My husband is actually a very good and gentle man with a very good heart but he has suffered much like I have with a more than difficult life full of huge hurdles to overcome. He comes from overwhelming poverty as well.
Please me explain what I mean by poverty - I am saying that my parents were just very young and poor from large, very poor families themselves when they got married. His dad was extremely physically and mentally abusive just like mine was. His mom left his dad after he actually tried to kill my husband, his son, when he was a child. After the divorce his parents went their separate ways but his mom received no child support as his dad was a major drug addict who wouldnt work. His mom was very poor with three children and no car and no job when she left her husband. She struggled immensely to raise her children, and she eventually became overwhelmed by mental disturbances which have ruined her life completely. Her children pretty much raised themselves from there on. Thank goodness of all three of them none has ever had a criminal records despite their dad’s lifestyle and influence. When Noah, my husband, was 15 his dad overdosed on illegal drugs and died. He died not knowing much of anything about his children since he had nothing to do with them throughout most of their lives.
My husband and I so have a lot of commonalities in our childhoods. We grew up in what seemed to be never ending nightmares. Neither of us have ever had any breaks or exciting opportunities to get out of poverty, except that I did go to college once and I have a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts. This was a huge mistake that I made. I was only 18 when I decided that I wanted to go to school for art, plus I had an art scholarship to help me pay for school. Anyhow I have never had any luck finding a decent job with this degree. My last couple of jobs did not even pay minimum wage and would only work me about 30 hours a week. Of course I had no insurance and DID have various health problems. For example it was only a couple of months after Michaels suicide that I went to the hospital for severe pain on my right side. I was hospitalized for a week or so because I had a petrified and infected gall bladder that was puncturing holes into my stomache and intestines. I actually died during the surgery and was brought back to life by the doctors operating on me. I have had many health problems since then, including chronic kidney stones and infections. Without insurance it was impossible to seek the help I needed. My husband has certain health problems as well, and has been in the same situation as I have with not having any successful or well paying jobs with no insurance. I am pregnant now and I have a medical card because of it but it only covers me and the baby not my husband.
I can not begin to explain the serious financial state of poverty we are in, though he works hard a waiter and is actively looking for a better paying job or even taking on another full time job so he will be able to support his family.
I want to go back to school so badly to go into a nursing program so that my child wont have to always live in poverty, but I can not find financially help that I need. I can not even get student loans because of certain ridiculous details that make it impossible for me. I need help so badly to afford to go back to school. In the meantime I have to work as well and have a newborn in daycare, with all the illnesses in daycare that my sons immune system is not prepared for or capable of taking on. I may not be able to work because of it but I at least wanted to go back to school so I could better our futures and my child would be in daycare less.
Can anyone send donations? I have Paypal if it is easier to make online donations. I am reduced to having no pride and this is not easy for me to tell this story of my life, and there are of course so many more details I have not included. More explanations of how I ended up mentally and financially broken. Please will anyone help out of compassion, empathy,and humanity? I can not explain how much your help would be appreciated as it is so much needed.
Sincerely,
Jami
Where did you grow up?
Kitts Hill, OH
Where do you live now?
Ironton,OH
What is the highest level of education you have attained?
Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts
What subjects did/do you enjoy the most at school?
music, art, english, writing
What's your favorite sport or sports?
car racing
What kinds of jobs have you held? Industries too!
visual arts teacher (for nonprofit cincinnati recreation, city empowerment zones), partial therapist (juvenile treatment facility for at risk youth), administrative, secretary, preschool teacher
What hobbies are you into?
art, music, walking, riding a bike, reading
What causes are you concerned about today?
the us and global economy, poverty, society's morale, lack of morals in a chaotic and confused world,
If you claim a political party affliation, which is it?
Libertarian
Which religion (if any) do you follow?
Christian