Autistic Spectrum Disorder Daughter Needs Help

Hello, my name is Steve, and the young lady in the picture is my autistic daughter when she still had hope in the world and in her dad.

She is 15-years-old now. Every morning I go into her room praying that when I touch her foot it's warm. I pray her suicidal ideations didn't get the best of her...

She was 13 years old and in middle school when the pandemic broke out, causing her to isolate herself. In 2020 her grandfather, my father, passed away from heart failure. In 2021 her aunt, my sister Jenny, caught and passed away from Covid-19, and several months later her uncle passed away by drinking himself to death. Not only did I lose my father, sister, and brother but I was beginning to lose my daughter.

The little kid in the Batman mask who liked to imitate me imitating Batman stopped eating. She wore baggy clothes to conceal her Anorexia Nervosa. It was when she began having difficulty with her heart that my wife discovered how thin she had become. When she saw her emaciated arms at the doctor’s office she began to cry.

When we talked to her about it she simply told us that she didn't want to be here anymore. It took me a moment to realize she wasn't referring to our home but that she didn't want to be in this plane of existence... She didn't want to live here, in this reality, anymore.

My wife has since vowed to do everything in her power to bring our baby back to good health. She took time away from her job to ensure our daughter went to an eating disorder clinic, psychotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. After months of testing she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Thankfully her weight during the past two years has came back. She came from 105 lbs (at 5’ 7) back to 135 lbs.

We’ve been taking our youngest daughter (5 years younger) to several types of therapy to ensure she doesn’t fall into the same hole her sister did. She is neurodivergent as well but her outlook is far better than her sister’s.

All this is to say that we've reached an impasse regarding the bills (mortgage, prescription medications, electric, simply put—everything) that come when getting the critical help needed for our daughters. We’re at a point where we’ve begun to cancel appointments because we simply can no longer afford them. We attempted to get help from the state but they’ve denied us as our children aren't enough of a danger to themselves or others.

We're looking at cancelling therapy appointments which would be detrimental to their mental health.

We love our daughters, and this is the last thing I thought I would ever have to do for them, but here we are.

We desperately need your help, and I hope you can help us in our journey to recovery. If not, then we would appreciate your prayers and well wishes. Thank you.