personal gofuneme campaign help

I am a single mom, 61 years old, with 4 kids, and my middle son (28) is disabled. I want to raise funds to help us travel while he can still see a bit, and also help me retire earlier (or at least from full time to part time) . Below is part of what I have come up with so far: (I don't know how much to ask for - as 50k would help but isn't enough to work less-need help!). Hi, my name is Helen Limehouse and I'm fundraising for my middle son Julian Limehouse. Julian is disabled and recently learned he has a rare genetic retinal disease and is legally blind. This money will help me bring some joy and hope into his life while I still can and while he can still see a little bit. I’m asking for help, even though I HATE asking for help. But, for Julian I don’t mind at all. Details are below on why I am asking for funds, but in a nutshell I am so afraid that Julian will go completely blind before I can show him the US (and hopefully more than the US) , as I work full time(I have been the sole breadwinner for my family of 4 kids for 30 years – and have been a single Mom for the last 10 years – I am not afraid to work) in IT and live mostly paycheck to paycheck(so many of us do these days, I know) – so the time to explore is impossible, and the money to explore is not easy to find. And it goes beyond just trying to raise money to help us travel, as my ultimate goal is to find a way to devote more of my time to him overall, so it would be amazing to raise enough that I could explore some part time options with my employer. I have many ideas of how to augment our income (create and see upcycled clothes, thrift and resell, upcycle and sell furniture, etc) but it defeats the goal of spending more time with Julian as those plans would require more of my time. It is also a timing/ageing issue for me – as I am 61 and feel physically fit now but I am at the age where I could decline at any moment (keeps me awake so many nights), so just waiting on all of this until I can retire at 67 is just not possible. I personally LOVE working and have been so lucky and blessed to be in IT and always have a challenging and rewarding career – so if it were just me I would gladly work until I am 67 or even till 70. But, that is just too late for me to then start helping Julian – for so many reasons. If you know me, you know I don’t ask for help very often, but I am in need of some financial assistance in order to help my son Julian. Julian is my middle son, and he has 2 genetic disorders (that we know of), one is XXY (Klinefelters Syndrome – which means Julian has an extra female chromosome ) and one is CDHR1 (a very rare retinal disease - CADHERIN-RELATED FAMILY, MEMBER 1; CDHR1 – which *should* only be possible if his Dad and I were 1st cousins – but we are not. We met when we were about 29 and are from completely different parts of the country!). Below I will go into more of the details concerning how we discovered Julian had these genetic disorders, but for now I want to concentrate on the retinal disease, as this disease and the fact that it is slowly taking away Julian’s eye sight is the reason I am reaching out for financial help. Julian can still see, but during the last 5 years it has steadily declined, to the point that he can only see if it is dark outside, and even then it is only a bit, so he is now legally blind. During the day he cannot see at all, since part of the disease is that it causes Photophobia (bright light hurts your eyes), and it also causes cataracts. He had cataract surgery(at 26!) last year which did help the clarity of his vision, but did not help him see any better during the day. Another effect of the the disease is that he cannot see anything if the background is white – so if walking in a house with white walls Julian is completely blind – or looking at words on a page – nothing. He can see a bit of you reverse the background, so setting his electronics to a dark background helps him see. My house no longer has white walls, and since I love color, this is not a bad compromise ?. Along with the CDHR1 and photophobia (if that wasn’t enough to deal with), he also has extreme Nystagmus – which is when your eye muscles constantly move – his moves from side to side all the time. This means that even though he can technically read, he can’t because the letters move around on the page or completely go away. And when you add in the effects of the XXY, which cause balance and other motor skills issues, this means he is mostly house bound, at least during the day. His favorite activity is being social, he adores being with his friends and talking about anything and everything (but most especially talking about cars – and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of cars so can hold his own with anyone). We moved down to Ft Myers Fl about 5 years ago, as I knew I needed to find a way to change his life, and this move was the answer. We were living in Clemson SC, and I was working at a law firm in Greenville (this was before remote work life), so I was gone from the house for at least 10 hours every day, and I was tired when I got home. He was so lonely and depressed and came to me one morning and told me he had written a suicide note the night before! It broke my heart to read that note and realize how alone he felt and how unloved he felt (I am crying now remembering it). But it was the impetus I needed to change everything and concentrate my life on him. So I asked my boss if he would allow me to move to Ft Myers (we had vacationed there for a few summers and we all loved it) and work remotely – and he said YES! A month later Julian, Jackson (my oldest son), and Eddie (Jackson’s dog) left SC and never looked back! We moved down to Ft Myers and within a month we discovered a local Kava Bar (Kapua Kava) which was the key to Julian’s social life – as that place is like Cheers – where everyone knows your name. He found true friends, who LOVED him and appreciated him, some of whom have become adopted family. Life became centered around Julian and, as he says, his Demons stay mostly away. Julian’s inner light: All the people who have had the pleasure to get to know Julian will tell you, that he is the BEST conversationalist, as he asks the questions that get to the heart of the person he is talking to because he truly cares and appreciates the people in his life. And he welcomes new people. A cute story: A friend of ours said the other day “You know those personality tests some jobs require, so they can get to know you – they should just hire Julian to come interview them – as he asks questions about people that really get to the heart of who they are – he makes you think of things about yourself and your life story that you might not have thought of in years – he is amazing!”. Julian is the kindest person I have ever met and radiates such an inner light that he makes other people so happy to be around him. He is very funny and loves to laugh. We all adore him, and that makes my heart, and his, so very very happy. Now, to the reason I am asking for financial help – it is to help me show Julian our country (and others if we can) while he can still see at least a little bit – as he will eventually be fully blind. I want to take him to things he has ALWAYS wanted to go to: SEMA – which is the biggest automotive show in the country; Pacific Coast Highway and the Redwoods; visit Racing and Monster truck garages (he likes talking to people about their cars so I would love to contact some of his favorite drivers and see about us visiting); take the scenic highways across America (route 66, the Lincoln Highway, Blue Ridge Highway, etc) and visit small towns and talk to people (he loves the small things – doesn’t need the huge tourist attractions, he’d rather we just stumble on cool things and places while we wander around); visit all the cool caves and underground attractions (these are perfect for him, since he can see better when it is not bright light); and so many other adventures. I have been researching ADA compliant parks and tourist attractions – it’s so cool that there are places I can take him where he would not be able to go without these concessions to people with disabilities. Other things I want to do , if I had more time, is to get him into local art classes, like clay and abstract painting, as he LOVES to make art and wants to be creative. I would love to fill more of his day with learning music, art, drama, swimming, etc – anything to get him up and feeling good about his life. My dream is to be able to buy a used setup to go camping (maybe a small driving RV or a truck/rv setup) and start taking trips to parts of the country – I could plan out garages and car shows to go visit, find parks and other attractions that offer experiences he can enjoy(caves, museums, haunted attractions(he adores ghost hunting shows!), etc) and then settle into a rv park and make friends – sit around at night and talk to our rv neighbors. I can work remote so could maybe work until noon each day – then he and I could spend the rest of the day together. Just thoughts, but you have to dream ?. I have thought about this for a long time, and I think camping is the best option for Julian as it is so much more social than just staying in a hotel/Airbnb each night. When you camp you just naturally become a small campground “family” and that is what Julian loves the most – getting to know people and talking to them. I have thought about doing this since we got the news last year – on Dec 1st, I will never forget the day – that Julian had CDHR1 and there was currently no cure (since it is such a rare disease they haven’t mapped that gene yet so cannot offer gene therapy). I knew I needed to find a way to stop working so much and enrich his life while I still can. But I kept procrastinating, as this is hard, asking people for money, very hard.