Tansi, Boozhoo, Greetings. 

I’m a multiply disabled, immobile Indigenous personal mentor,  singer, hand drummer, speaker and facilitator in Canada working virtually from home with my solo business. I’m also mom to my son in the spirit world and my multiply disabled adult daughter, who lives with me and assists me but she is otherwise unable to work.

***CANADIANS: You can e-transfer me directly if preferred, at giftsforbrenda @ gmail.com. (Thanks to some of you letting me know you couldn't find this info).

I can still do virtual Spirit-related and singing/speaking work, but I can't do enough behind the scenes work for the business to sustain us.

I am homebound and mostly bedbound, thanks to several chronic illnesses triggering each other. Even just loading the dishwasher or eating or using my brain for business can give me shortness of breath, sudden blood pressure and/or heart rate spikes or other messed up symptoms.

Working past my capacity just to barely survive keeps flaring up and worsening my health and on and on the cycle goes. As of August 9th, 2025, I lost my ability to stand up, bend over or do any kind of slight exertion at all without causing immediate heart problems (Tachycardia and palpitations).

My body's autonomic nervous system is broken, so things like hot weather, wildfire smoke, or even excess noise or regular light can put me into a flareup. Medical appointments and a simple shower are the worst.

I'm still in a flareup from an appointment over a month ago as of August 13, 2026, and just found out I need several more cardiology appointments for my heart issues.

This is the problem. The appointments themselves actually make things even worse, sometimes permanently, because of these complex conditions fighting each other and me needing weeks to months to recover each time.

PLUS then I'm not able to work in the business until my limited capacity returns.

MY BIGGEST WORSENING HEALTH CONCERNS:

• Hyperadrenergic POTS: sitting, standing and any kind of exertion (even laughing) heightens my blood pressure and heart rate, causes adrenaline to randomly flood my system, and makes a decent sleep impossible. 
• Severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), which gives me Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM/PESE): my body can't make and use energy properly, so instead of exercise making me feel great, even before the POTS, a short walk down the street resulted in days to weeks of immense pain and amplified symptoms, like light sensitivity, nausea, vertigo, migraines, shortness of breath and more.
• 24/7 Chronic Pain ever since 2016 when I lost my son.
• Major Memory Loss,  Cognitive Delay and Decline.
• Torn rotator cuff on both shoulders but can't afford home physiotherapy or to be completely unable to use both arms for long enough to recover (months off from the business, my sole income). This causes me excruciating pain every single day, which then triggers the PEM and puts me in bed more.

I need your support because I have no other way. No EI. No pension. No insurance. No disability support. Only 2 family members who can help very occasionally (the others are dead or don't talk to me since my adoptive parents died in the 80s).

• Some of my 90+ symptoms are treatable but the treatments are not covered by OHIP (provincial health insurance - the only kind I have). Some aren't even available to me unless I can recover enough first for my body to accept them.
• Since I'm a solo entrepreneur, I have no medical insurance and no sick or vacation time.
• If I go on provincial disability (ODSP) I will lose my home. I can only keep up to $1000/mo of my business earnings (the government takes the rest) and that would leave me with nothing paid but the rent and hydro. I’ve been on it before. I know how it works. Additionally, I can't do the monthly mental math/accounting work required to keep receiving payments or my conditions would continue to get much worse, much more quickly.
• I need a LOT of TIME OFF and proper care to heal, recover and figure out how to run my business extremely part-time and make that sustainable.
• Due to immobility, CPTSD, being immunocompromised and being homebound/bedbound and limited to 2-3 hours of work capacity a day, I can’t just get a job. 

HOW YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL ASSIST ME:

Your support will help me to

• keep my apartment, Internet and phone
• get out of ongoing severe financial distress
• continue my cherished virtual work of
  • helping women to find their voice
  • sharing cultural teaching with Indigenous kids in remote schools
  • giving talks for organizations about about managing grief and helping their clients
  • offering community and connection to folx who experience isolation, loneliness, lack of belonging and more just for being who they are and doing good in the world

Your contribution will also help me to have less flareups of pain, fatigue and other symptoms due to severe financial stress or overworking.

Please help me manage these conditions and access appropriate medical care and treatments, so I can do more than just barely get by and live in severe pain every day.

I may never be able to walk again without severe consequences, but please help me to get the bed rest, treatments and medicines I require, so I can at least safely go outside for more than medical appointments.

How You Can Help:

1. Donate to this fundraiser. No amount is too small.
2. Please share this page. If you share to social media, please make your post public, say a little about why you're supporting this fundraiser, and ask your friends to share it too. I can no longer be on social media, so this means the world to me. I only have time for sleep, self-care, and the little business work I'm able to do. 
3. CANADIANS: You can e-transfer me directly if preferred, at giftsforbrenda @ gmail.com.
4. I’m happy to provide services if you’d rather hire or refer me. Visit my website to learn more. Sharing my gifts and helping my clients deepen into who they are meant to be brings me joy, energy and healing. It’s the ongoing business planning, admin, strategizing and writing that brings on the pain, shuts down my brain and worsens several of the other symptoms.

Your Contribution Will Go Towards Basic Needs, Medical Support and Recovery:

• Rent. My rent and hydro are over $2000/mo. 
• Healthy Foods that don’t worsen the GERD, Bone Loss, High Blood Pressure, Inflammation and Oral Allergy Syndrome.
• Hydro. On top of another ridiculous price increase: Due to heart, lung and nervous system problems we have to run several air purifiers 24/7 in the apartment, use our window air conditioner a lot, and keep windows open as much as possible. My hydro is more than double the building average to keep me safe and regulate the temperature the best we can, since my body forgot how to manage excess heat and cold.
• Internet and Phone. My business and social life are 100% virtual now and so are certain healthcare services I require.
• Time Off to Rest, Rehabilitate and Recover. Radical rest for my brain and body is now even more crucial. 
• Specialized Virtual Physiotherapy Program and Home Body Work for relief and healing of my worst conditions. I can only afford it when the rent and other bills are paid. I've gone without for far too long.
• Prescriptions and Supplements.
• Extra Medical Fees. I can't even take an Uber now. Any bloodwork etc. done in-home will cost me over and above provincial health insurance (OHIP). I have paramedics on call for limited medical issues but I can't go anywhere without my daughter pushing my non-portable wheelchair. Even wheeltrans is inaccessible because I'd have to go in person to my doctor to get the forms filled out.
• Medical Procedures and Equipment. I need a home sleep study and lilkely a CPAP machine. OHIP does not cover the majority of or possibly any these expenses. I'm on a very long hospital waitlist for now but my internal medicine doctor emphasized how urgent it is. Wishlist: a lightweight wheelchair, so my daughter can take me on walks and to appointments without making her own chronic pain and disability worse.

Whether it's big, small, prayers or vibes, you are appreciated. 

Hiy Hiy, Maarsii, Miigwech, Thank you so much for whatever support you can offer.

NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME OR MY SITUATION?

Right now there is no cure for most of my conditions but if I could end some of the severe financial stress and gain access to appropriate ongoing symptomatic support, and if I didn’t have to work so much and so hard just to barely stay afloat, I could get some pretty good relief and begin to heal instead of watching helplessly while things get worse.

I love my clients dearly and it’s rare I have to reschedule a session, but I can hardly do any of the work that is required to make my business sustainable. Also, all my clients have already paid me in advance, meaning I have zero income until the next virtual gig or client comes my way.

When I try to do the important background business work, it drains me and shuts down much of my brain. Too long and I have shortness of breath. Even just going to a medical appointment -sets me back for at least 2-4 weeks. 

I thought I'd lost everything when my son Quinn was taken from me. I worked so hard to rebuild after bankruptcy, I sustained a serious knee injury and then 2020 came along and I became immobile. I rebuilt again and again, moved away from Toronto to be with my daughter, and got so sick from a 2nd Co/vid infection in September 2023 that I never recovered. Instead, I got hyperadrenergic POTS, ME/CFS, AFib and the loss of a working autonomic nervous system. Now my symptoms are completely unpredictable and some are terrifying.

Whatever you can do to help means everything to me, and I appreciate you so very much.

ᒥᔪᒪᐦᒋᐦᐅᐃᐧᐣ Miyomahcihowin,

Good health, good feelings,

Brenda