Anne Snow

Anne Snow is in her late-20s. She is both anxious and excited for what the 30s will bring. Anne is highly educated with a STEM degree from a very competitive university. She followed graduation with several years of career success in a healthcare-related industry, helping sick people have the opportunity to recover and heal. Anne enjoys spending time with her family, significant other, and long-lasting friends. Anne is also autistic. This made her a target for exploitation when she had the bad luck to cross paths with a trafficker. She survived and was able to escape physically unharmed. She reported the events to law enforcement and is cooperating with their investigation. (Details of this statement have been left vague in this statement to protect Anne’s identity and the investigation.) Anne has struggled with PTSD, severe depression, and dramatically worsened autism symptoms since escaping. Despite her best efforts – for now – she has lost the career she worked so hard to obtain. Currently, Anne is without income and not expected to be able to return to working full-time until she is more recovered. Strange as it may sound, Anne misses work. She misses collaborating with others on meaningful projects, the intellectual stimulation of unexpected obstacles, and the pride of contributing to society and the well-being of others. Anne desperately wants to heal and recover, so she can get back to these sources of meaning and move forward with her life. She is trying to treat the healing process as her job through this time and apply efforts that would normally go to work towards this goal. Unfortunately, the complexities of the healthcare system and Anne’s autism diagnosis make this process challenging and very expensive. Treatment of depression and PTSD can look different and be more difficult in autistic brains. This has sadly been the case for Anne. She is seeing some progress, but results from standard treatment approaches have been complicated by her autism. That slowed progress towards recovery comes with substantial financial cost. Anne is applying to potential benefits and non-profit sources of aid for which she might be eligible. However, none are guaranteed, covered expensed are limited, and the process of applying for aid may outlast Anne’s savings. Anne and her family hope that strategic high investment in treatment at this time might catalyze Anne’s speed of recovery, allowing her to return to work and gradually recover self-sufficiency. Depending on the rate of insurance reimbursement, reaching Anne’s goal would allow her to cover 3 – 6 months of comprehensive PTSD and depression treatment, as well as autism spectrum disorder supports. With focused treatment, Anne is cautiously optimistic that she will be able to return to work at the end of that time and her treatment team agrees this is a realistic goal. Anne and her family have already exhausted the vast majority of resources she had available to invest in her own recovery. Therefore, Anne finds herself in the position of reaching out to ask anyone in the community to whom these issues might be meaningful for any assistance they might be able to give. It will be deeply appreciated, not taken for granted, and Anne will do everything in her power to ensure it does not go to waste.Anne has chosen to fundraise with Help Hope Live in part because donations are tax-deductible for contributors and will only be used to cover medical and related expenses. All funds go directly to Help Hope Live who disburses them for approved medical expenses. No funds ever go into Anne’s individual bank account. Given the expected duration that Anne will need some degree of treatment to maintain remission and recovery, it seems highly unlikely any funds raised would go unused. However, in that case, any remaining funds would go to other patients with Help Hope Live campaigns in the same geographical region. Thank you all for reading and your consideration.