A Future Beyond Survival

The following entry was written by “Barbara”. Despite facing homelessness due to an unidentifiable autoimmune disorder and lack of insurance support, Barbara's resilience and determination led her to LifeWorks. Here, she found the support and resources needed to rebuild her life. We are honored to have been part of her transformative journey and are committed to providing a platform for her voice as she continues to forge her path forward.

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At a very young age, I was diagnosed with a chronic, rare, and significant neuro-autoimmune disorder with several co-occurring diagnoses. By the time I was six, we found a treatment plan that managed to help for a while. However, when I was 18, hoping to attend college on scholarship, it was like my body rioted overnight. All of my symptoms, old and new, flared aggressively. My physical condition rapidly worsened to the point where I had to move back home.

I became sicker and sicker. The countless medical processes were expensive, traumatic, and didn’t restore the stability I needed. On top of that, one year into this, I also began suffering from long COVID and the recovery from a painful, intensive nerve surgery. To give you an idea of how this affected my day-to-day life: for about two and a half years, it was impossible to stay awake, and I slept around 18 hours a day.  

I was deeply, deeply, isolated and depressed. 

I am grateful to have had the privilege to be able to stay with family for some time, as the pandemic was still in full force and I was terrified of getting even more sick. However, both my parents work long, full-time hours at intense jobs, and my other four siblings (and additional family and friends we support) have high levels of need. My disability meant that I was unable to do more than freelance remote gigs from Craigslist here and there (on days I was well enough to look at the computer screen for long enough). Our funds were getting dangerously low, and I was entering another year without insurance approval for the expensive treatment I needed. As much as they wanted to, my family was no longer able to support me.   

I moved out. Couchsurfing with friends became my reality, and when I ran out of places to crash, I found myself lost, hopeless, and alone. I know I’m lucky to have the support system I have, but by then they had done all they could to try and help me endure. 

They say it takes a village, and LifeWorks became my village.   

I vividly remember the two-hour bus ride to the Youth Resource Center. I felt anxious that no one would be able to help me, or worse, that they wouldn’t even believe that I needed or was deserving of help. By that point, I was sleeping in public libraries, in pain and unable to stay awake for long. I still wondered: is it okay for me to be asking for help here? 

The library was my refuge during hard times before and during my stay at PORT. This is the same library where I took my senior photos and, although I once got in trouble for sleeping here too often, it is still a cherished space I visit to enjoy and reflect.

I’ll never forget how kind and attentive the person from Street Outreach who first helped me was. With their support, a situation that felt impossible to fix started to feel like it could just end up being a dark chapter along the way, not the end of my life. 

They helped me get situated at PORT, which was a great place to stay. My case manager was friendly, supportive, and always made a point to validate my experiences and help me bounce back when I felt my lowest. Here, I found stability, support, and the necessary resources to begin meaningfully rebuilding my life. I was able to safely stay there until I could finally get insurance to cover the medication my doctors had been insisting I needed for three years. Once I began receiving my infusions, I started to bounce back rapidly. I found housing and employment and was able to start regaining my physical and mental health. It made a huge difference to have people I could lean on and who could focus on me while I was taking steps to begin to heal. 

The tracks on the way home remind me that my journey is still going. I'm excited to see what comes next. 

While I was receiving services, I was invited to participate in the Impactful Voices program. There I could provide feedback on the organization's initiatives. I found that, instead of just pretending to care, LifeWorks genuinely values and implements the input of its clients. For example, the Chief Program Officer, Courtney Seals, asked if we had any ideas to help with the staffing difficulty they were experiencing since the pandemic. Many students who might have gone into case management or counseling were choosing to pursue private practice instead. We chose to visit students in these academic tracks to highlight the profound impact staff at organizations like this can make. The students we met at St. Edward’s were highly engaged with our testimony, and I believe we influenced some of their future career choices.

Now, having wrapped up my time as an Impact Generalist, I am working as an Impact Specialist with Evidence-Based Programming. My time at ACC, taking credits to pursue a bachelor’s degree in communications, is also reaching its end. I am learning so much in my new role. Every day I wake up genuinely excited to come in and contribute whatever I can to this mission, which provides so much for the community where I was born and raised (and love). 

Looking back on the various roles I’ve experienced within LifeWorks, it is truly a special place that has given me so much and inspired who I want to be as I move forward in life. I know now, without a doubt, that whatever future I pursue, I want to feel the way I do working here: that I, working alongside passionate, inspiring people am helping others just as I was helped, and proving that hope is in reach.

This is the first time in a long time that I’ve felt like I can look into the future, because before I was just in survival mode. I cannot express enough admiration for the ethos that informs every single action LifeWorks takes, and I will carry those values with me as I continue figuring out my purpose.