Voices: Sandy's Story

"I was living up on a mountain when my husband left me with 6 kids at home. I was forced to live on Social Security and my daughter's income. The state would not provide food stamps. I couldn't pay my rent, so I had to move out.

I was required by law, because of the number of children I have, to get a 3 bedroom apartment. The cheapest one I could find cost 900 dollars a month. That took up all the money I got from Social Security. The state gave me $100 in food stamps. I started part time work doing drywall and taping.

A co-worker there started stalking me. He came to my apartment and broke the doors and windows. So, I got evicted. There were no shelters that would accept me and my six children. I didn't have anywhere to go. They didn't offer me any money. I took my children up to my sister's house, to go to Salt Lake City to find a safe apartment to get away from him.

He found me, he used steel-toed boots and kicked me to the ground, and he tried to cut my eyes out with a pair of scissors. I turned my head and he cut my ear. I kicked him off of me, and he busted his arm and dropped his weapon. I was rushed to the hospital.
He had kicked me more than 48 times with his steel toed boots. I had blood clots in my brain, behind my left frontal lobe, right behind the eye. The doctors told me I had a maximum of 1 year and 8 months to live, because the blood clots in my brain would burst. My heart stopped that night. I was on a heart monitor for 18 hours. After that, they released me to the street.

I tried to find work, and had to go to two trials to get him into prison. They took my children away. At the court hearing, the judge said that I have a terminal condition and refused to return my children. My children were split up, each into different foster families. My teenage daughter was raped in a foster home. I fought for another year to get my children together in the same foster home. Four years after I was attacked, the blood clots disappeared by themselves. The doctors can't explain it, but they documented it. I can only thank God. I'm still fighting to get my children back.

I've been homeless since 1996. I was recently evicted and I'm now living in a van. But I still come around and volunteer with JEDI for Women. I never want this to happen to another person, so that's why I'm here."