Monika M Blazkow

If you are reading this page, thank you for taking the time to learn about my journey.

On October 29, 2024, my life changed when I suffered multiple ischemic strokes that affected my brain and my entire right side. I survived emergency treatment, approximately five weeks without being able to walk or speak, and months of rehabilitation. Just as I was rebuilding, my daughter and I were injured in a serious motor-vehicle accident on Halloween 2025. My vehicle was totaled, and I experienced an additional traumatic brain injury and worsening neurological symptoms.

Today, I am disabled, homeless, and living alone in my car while continuing medical treatment and preparing to begin college. I have no dependable family support in the United States beyond my daughter, who is also recovering from the accident. Despite physical limitations, aphasia, cognitive impairment, financial hardship, hunger, and overwhelming daily obstacles, I continue fighting for recovery, independence, and a future in which I can help others.

I am asking for help so that I can continue accessing qualified medical care, rehabilitation, medications, transportation, and safety-related equipment. If you are able to donate, share my story, pray for me, or send encouragement, you will become an important part of my recovery. Your kindness and support mean more to me than I can express.

About Me

My name is Monika. I am a single mother, a stroke and brain-injury survivor, a woman of deep Catholic faith, and someone who refuses to give up.

My daughter, Chloe, is the greatest blessing in my life and my only close family in the United States. Being her mother gives me strength and purpose, even during the most difficult days. I remain actively involved in her life and do everything I can to support her emotionally and help with her appointments and transportation. My only other close family is my sister in Poland, who is seriously ill and unable to be here to help me.

I have always loved working out, staying active, and challenging myself physically. Movement was an important part of my independence and identity. Since my strokes and the motor-vehicle accident, I have not been able to exercise the way I once did. Weakness, spasticity, pain, headaches, poor balance, falls, and cognitive fatigue mean that physical activity must now be limited, carefully adapted, and approached as part of rehabilitation.

Before my injuries, I was independent and able to work and care for my family. Today, ordinary tasks can require enormous effort. Crowded or noisy environments can overwhelm me, and written communication is often easier than speaking by telephone. I must manage a complicated schedule of medications and medical needs while coping with an injured brain, unstable housing, and very limited support.

Even so, I continue moving forward. I complete recovery exercises and walk as safely as I can, attend medical appointments, advocate for my care, volunteer when I am able, and rely on my faith every day. Against all odds, I enrolled myself at Georgian Court University to study psychology, and I am beginning classes on September 8, 2026. This is not easy. I often feel overwhelmed and cry, but I complete the next task and keep going. My hope is to use my education and lived experience one day to serve, advocate for, and inspire other people facing disability, brain injury, abuse, homelessness, and overwhelming life circumstances.

What Happened

On October 29, 2024, I suffered multiple ischemic strokes. The strokes affected my brain and my entire right side. I required an emergency mechanical thrombectomy and placement of a stent in my left anterior cerebral artery.

For approximately five weeks, I could not walk or speak. I spent months in inpatient and skilled rehabilitation relearning essential abilities that most people never have to think about. I worked intensely in physical, occupational, and speech therapy before finally returning home on February 19, 2025.

Recovery did not end when I left rehabilitation. My neuropsychological evaluation diagnosed Mild Neurocognitive Disorder related to cerebrovascular disease and traumatic brain injury/post-concussion syndrome. It documented weaknesses in attention and working memory, verbal and visual memory, naming and word retrieval, verbal fluency, and visuospatial functioning. My medical records also document aphasia, cognitive deficits, severe headaches, anxiety, and right spastic hemiparesis.

I continue living with difficulty speaking and finding words, memory and concentration problems, fatigue, reduced vision and hearing, and difficulty moving my right foot and toes. My poor balance causes frequent falls, and I often have bruises across my body. I require cardiology care and must carefully manage many medications, my blood pressure, and numerous medical appointments. At times I feel deeply discouraged, but every word, step, and task remains part of my rebuilding process.

Then, on Halloween—October 31, 2025—my daughter and I were involved in a terrifying motor-vehicle accident. Our vehicle was struck from the passenger side and totaled. My daughter was also injured and continues recovering. After the accident, my headaches, dizziness, memory problems, anxiety, pain, balance difficulties, and other neurological symptoms became worse. I have since required additional evaluation and care for traumatic brain injury and post-concussion symptoms.

I had been so grateful and excited simply to have survived my strokes when another catastrophe struck. It felt as though I had been knocked backward just as I was trying to rebuild my life—but I kept going.

Where I Am Today

After enduring more than a decade of abuse, I made the difficult decision to leave an unsafe situation. Even while disabled and still recovering from my stroke and additional brain injury, I found the strength to protect myself and escape. Leaving was necessary for my safety, but it also left me without a stable place to live.

Since June 2026, I have been homeless and living alone in my car. I spent the summer outside through extreme heat while trying to manage serious medical conditions and continue caring for my daughter. The instability prevented us from sharing a normal summer together at a time when we both needed safety, healing, and one another.

Because I have no home, I carry bags containing my essential belongings with me wherever I go. This is not exercise by choice; it is the physical burden of survival. The weight places additional strain on my weakened body and poor balance. I sometimes become so weak that I collapse, especially when I have not had enough to eat.

Because of my disabilities, I have not been able to return to work. My credit cards are maxed out from trying to survive, and there have been days when I had little or nothing to eat. I am handling nearly every part of my recovery and daily life by myself. With an injured brain, I must still navigate complicated medical records, applications, appointments, housing needs, and college responsibilities. Maintaining medical care without stable housing is extremely difficult. I need safe places to rest, organize paperwork, charge my phone, manage medications and blood pressure, and recover from exhausting appointments.

I have knocked on every door I could find. I have contacted agencies, charities, medical offices, housing programs, and community organizations, repeatedly explaining my circumstances and asking for help. Too often, I have been referred from one place to another without reaching a stable solution. Navigating this fragmented system would be exhausting for anyone; doing it alone with aphasia, memory problems, cognitive impairment, and physical disability can feel impossible. Still, I keep making the next call, completing the next form, and knocking on the next door.

During this vulnerable period, I have also experienced people taking advantage of my physical, cognitive, and financial limitations. Each experience has made rebuilding more difficult. Still, I continue advocating for myself, searching for safe housing, attending to my medical needs, and refusing to surrender.

Homelessness is part of the reality surrounding my medical recovery, but it does not define who I am. I am still a mother. I am still a woman of faith. I am still a student preparing to begin a new chapter. When everything around me feels impossible, my relationship with God gives me the strength to stand up and fight again. Most importantly, I am still fighting for the greatest possible recovery and independence.

Why I Am Fundraising

Recovery from a stroke and traumatic brain injury is measured in months and years, not days or weeks. Long-term rehabilitation, specialist care, medications, transportation, medical equipment, and uncovered treatment costs create financial barriers that I cannot overcome alone.

My goal is to continue receiving the medical care and rehabilitation that give me the best chance to improve my communication, mobility, safety, cognitive functioning, and independence. I do not want treatment decisions to be determined only by what I cannot afford.

Funds raised in my honor through Help Hope Live will be used only for qualified medical and related expenses approved by Help Hope Live.

How Donations May Help

Subject to Help Hope Live’s approval, funds may assist with:

● Ongoing physical, occupational, speech, and cognitive rehabilitation

● Neurology, neurosurgery, cardiology, headache, spasticity, and brain-injury care

● Follow-up care and imaging related to my strokes and cerebral-artery stent

● Prescriptions, medical copayments, and uninsured medical expenses

● Transportation to medical appointments and rehabilitation

● Durable medical equipment, mobility and safety devices, and assistive technology

● Other medically necessary services and recovery expenses approved by Help Hope Live

Every therapy session, specialist visit, and opportunity for continued rehabilitation can help me regain greater independence and create a safer future.

Looking Ahead: My Recovery Roadmap

Phase 1: Stabilizing My Care

My immediate priorities are to establish consistent neurological, cardiology, and brain-injury care; complete recommended imaging and follow-up for my stent; manage my blood pressure, severe headaches, and spasticity; maintain access to essential medications; and restart appropriate therapies.

Phase 2: Long-Term Rehabilitation and Independence

Over the following year, I hope to participate consistently in speech and cognitive therapy, physical and occupational therapy, specialist treatment, and safety-focused care. My goals are to communicate more effectively, improve balance and mobility, reduce falls, manage cognitive fatigue, and become as independent as possible.

Education is also part of rebuilding my future. Studying psychology will allow me to transform what I have survived into compassion and service for others. Starting college while homeless and living with a brain injury is frightening and difficult, but I refuse to let fear decide my future. I want my daughter to see that even after devastating setbacks, it is possible to keep believing, learning, and moving forward.

How You Can Help

● Donate: A contribution of any size can help remove barriers to approved medical treatment and rehabilitation.

● Share: Please share this campaign with family, friends, coworkers, churches, community groups, and anyone who may be moved by my journey.

● Pray and encourage: Your prayers and messages remind me that I am not fighting entirely alone.

If you cannot donate, sharing this page is also a meaningful way to help. One share may reach the person or community able to make the next therapy session, medical appointment, or recovery resource possible.

Thank You

No one recovers from a stroke or traumatic brain injury entirely alone.

Whether you choose to donate, share this page, pray for me, send encouragement, or simply follow my progress, thank you. Your kindness reminds me that I am not invisible and that hope can remain alive even during the hardest chapter of a person’s life. Every day brings another challenge, but with God beside me, I will keep fighting.

With gratitude and faith,

Monika

I survived. I am rebuilding. And I will not give up.