What happened to Emilyn?

32-year-old Emilyn is a tenacious single-parent who is also in remission for cervical and skin cancer.  Her 3 year-old daughter, Eleanor, was born prematurely and is susceptible to illness. Eleanor was hospitalised 6 times since November last year due to severe lung infection, pneumonia and bronchitis. 

Emilyn does not receive any child support from her ex-partner and is estranged from her own family. This means that the determined mother is both sole breadwinner and caregiver to her child. Having lost her employment due to her long term hospitalization for treatment, even as she struggled to care for Eleanor on her own, Emilyn worries about making ends meet for herself and her child.

How can you help?

Emilyn believes that employment with flexible hours would be the best way forward and is working towards certification as a real estate agent. In the meantime, she has secured a Nanny who is willing to provide live-in care for Eleanor – thereby releasing Emilyn to seek full time employment once again. Your gift helps to fund the cost of engaging the nanny and Eleanor’s nutritional needs for 5 months. This $1,300 each month buys Emilyn time to complete her studies and secure full-time employment, a crucial step in Emilyn’s plan to provide a fresh start to her family.

Find out more/Appeal from Emilyn:

In spite of battling cancer all through 2021 and 2022, Emilyn was employed until July 2022, earning approximately $3,400 a month. With her salary, she was able to support herself and her baby girl comfortably. She felt the next step was to secure long-term housing for both of them and made numerous appeals through her Member of Parliament before she was successful in her attempt to apply for a 3-room BTO flat. Through her savings, Emilyn was able to pay the  deposit of $29,000 for her flat and she was confident that she would be able to provide for Eleanor single-handedly. However, her circumstances took yet another turn when she lost her job in July 2022 due to her being hospitalized for a stretch of two months.  Thereafter, in her desperation to secure suitable employment that would give her the flexibility to nurse herself back to health while caring for Eleanor, she fell prey to a job scam in November 2022 – losing her life savings as a result. Things compounded when Eleanor’s health took a turn for the worse and was in and out of hospital multiple times since then.

Emilyn has not given up. With strong interpersonal skills and a wealth of experience in sales, she is working towards becoming a real estate agent, believing that  it will provide financial stability in the long run. As she works diligently towards completing her course, she is still seeking stable employment to carry herself and Eleanor through until she establishes herself in her new role confidently. In the meantime, she believes that a Nanny would allow her the peace of mind to focus, knowing that being cared for in a home setting reduces her chance of exposure to cross infections, and in the days that the child is ill, she would have more support to provide consistent care for her.

*Emilyn is receiving social assistance.