"I came home feeling like I was better prepared to take care of my daughter"

Meet Heather, single mom to her daughter with autism for the past 12 years.

Heather moved from Missouri to Longmont in 2020 for better care and better services and quality of life for the both of them. Over the years her daughter has had over a dozen surgeries.and procedures. Being able to take a much needed respite vacation would have a huge impact on the both of us.

"As a parent and a caregiver of a special needs child the day to day become consumed with their needs and your needs fall by the wayside."

She gets about 4 hours of sleep a night, due to the occurrence of her daughter's nocturnal seizures or less if there are other emergencies that arise. It's a go-go-go lifestyle. Most of the time she barely gets time for a shower or a meal in.

As a nurse, Nurse, Medical Assistant, and a Certified Nurse Assistant working full time outside of the home, it has been difficult caring for her children and meeting their needs, doctor's appointments, specialists, therapies and school, all while trying to balance her own needs as a single parent.

Single mother of two daughters under 10 and the sole caregiver to her 5 year old on the Autism Spectrum disorder, Speech Sound Disorder, and Mixed Receptive Expressive Language Disorder. She lives a non-stop lifestyle with very little time for self care.

Monica knew she would not be able to have a regular work schedule due to all of the new appointments that came along with her daughter's new diagnoses and dreams of having a home based T-shirt business to better provide for her girls financially and be present and available for medical needs and milestones.

"We were reminded of how much we need to take care of ourselves and our marriage and have uninterrupted time to talk, sit across from each other and connect again as a couple"

Meet Jim and Jeanine, caregivers for 20 years for their middle daughter who has had a difficult medical history since age 1 and have been required to be her primary caregivers 24/7.

At an early age she had a bone marrow transplant and treatments. At age ten, Epilepsy began which still continues today. At the age of 17, she had brain surgery to help with the epilepsy. Then, liver and kidney disease set in and has had ongoing surgeries. Recently discovered were tumors on her liver and is preparing for a liver transplant.