Heather's Story: Broken Angel, Learning To Fly Again
I recently came across Beautiful Disaster on Facebook and fell in love with the products immediately!! So, I instantly purchased 3 shirts, a hat, and a small makeup bag!
You see my life has always literally been a Beautiful Disaster, to say the least! I grew up in a home where my dad was an alcoholic and drug addict, who often (almost daily) physically abused my mom in front of my sister and I! He was extremely emotionally abusive to our mom! He beat her so bad one year, that it was 12 days before Christmas and he almost killed her! Neighbors could hear her screaming for help (they were separated) and he managed to break every bone in her face!
However, I was dealing with my own issues and little did anyone know that our next door neighbor was molesting me! It started when I was 5!!! Yep only 5 years old and he held me at gun point and told me if I ever told anyone he would kill me and my family! That sexual abuse went on until I was 12, which is when the sick piece of shit finally died! We moved from that location about 6 months later because my mom had a house built!
Then, I started High School in 8th grade! I almost immediately started dating a guy (who I honestly thought I would be married to now)! Anyways, long story short, at 16 I ended up pregnant and had a miscarriage! His step mom fucking flipped! She told him that if she found out he made any contact with me at all she would kick him out of the house! Well, we still kept sneaking around for a few months, but I just couldn’t see being in a relationship that I had to hide. So my first true love was ripped away from me. It sent me into a complete spiral!
I kinda went a little crazy then! I felt like I could do whatever I wanted, I wasn’t tied to any man! So I had fun just messing around with guys making them think they were going to get something, then they didn’t! 😂
Then, I started dating a guy who I really knew that I didn’t love, but he spoiled the shit out of me! If I even mentioned I wanted something, he bought it! So I was kinda in it for the money and gifts. Well I ended up moving in with him and he became so abusive! He slapped me a couple times and was extremely emotionally abusive. I was planning how to move out while he was at work! I ended up in a really bad car accident, the day before I was supposed to move out! I could barely walk to the bathroom on my own and he didn’t offer to help. Instead, that night he held me by my throat and forcefully had sex with me! Meanwhile, I was crying and screaming stop at the top of my lungs! He would just hold my throat tighter to make it harder for me to scream for help! His comment after he finished was “I hope you liked that, Bitch”!
The next morning I got up and showered immediately because I felt disgusted and gross! I, then, called my uncle who lived 20 minutes away and told him I had someone on the way - I was moving out! My mom and stepdad were already on the way (it was a 3 hour drive for them)! That is when he decided it would be ok to slap me again, I guess I was at my breaking point because this time I fought back, I punched him twice in his face. He grabbed his motorcycle helmets and left!
Fast forward, I moved back home to my parents house and I meet this guy who I already knew, but had never dated! We started talking and I found out I was pregnant (this was from the rape none the less)! Of course I told him right away and I knew it wasn’t his! But, he stood by me my entire pregnancy! He actually adopted my daughter right after she was born! He’s been the biggest blessing God has ever sent me! We were blessed with our first daughter 01/17/04, our second 02/17/05 and our third 12/20/07! However our third daughter passed away, I wasn’t even physically or mentally able to plan her funeral, yet he planned the most amazing funeral service ever!
We moved to SC in 2008 because I was extremely depressed and my husband was offered a better job here than he had in VA.
I decided to go to college and get my associates degree in applied science and a phlebotomy certificate! I loved phlebotomy and got a job at our local hospital! After 6 months, I was promoted to supervisor!! Then in 2013, I had to take a flu shot (the hospital made us) and it almost killed me! I ended up with GBS and was paralyzed within 6 days! I went from working 76 hours the week before to being paralyzed! I’ve had 7 brain surgeries, required a full hysterectomy, had to get a portacath, and the list goes on! I have to get Botox in the top of my head and my spine every 3 months as well as spinal tap every 3 months!
In the last year, I’ve lost over 100 pounds! I’ve gone from doctors telling me that I would never ever walk, to teaching myself how to walk (with a walker). I’ve started driving again for the first time since 2014! I have more confidence in myself than I’ve had in a long time (but I have a long way to go)! My shirts I ordered are actually a bit to big which shocked me, but I was so excited about them that I just wore them too big!
I’m trying to raise two daughters off of disability and my husbands income! My husband was on a Kidney Transplant list and I ran him on dialysis here in our home making life even more stressful! However we were blessed and God sent us a Living Kidney Donor who found my post on Facebook 💚💙!
Our oldest daughter graduated high school in June (a year early) and started college the same day her dad received his transplant!
Oh and just an update on the weight: I started out in 2019 at 428lbs, today I’m 162!!! I’m finally starting to love the person I am and give zero fucks about what others think!
Life can be a bitch, but what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger! Sending love y’all’s way,
Heather 💜