A Florida public defender is appealing for funds to buy a house, pay off her five credit cards and retire after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Beth Bourdon, 53, is seeking $41,720 to help her achieve her goals.
In the first five hours on January 1 she had raised almost $11,000 – publicizing her appeal on Facebook and X, where she has 73,000 followers.
Bourdon, who has been divorced and living alone since 2019, said that her mother died of the same type of cancer at the age of 58, and she wants to slow down and focus on her own health.
She was diagnosed in August and had a mastectomy in October; a second operation in November; and will undergo reconstructive surgery in February.
‘My problem is the cancer has put me in a position where I can’t be aggressive with paying off credit cards, which will then put me in a position to buy a house, which will then allow me to retire in about 10 years,’ she said.
Beth Bourdon, a 53-year-old public defender, has set up a GoFundMe to help her buy a house as she battles cancer
Bourdon shared an image of the house she hopes to buy, with the donations
Bourdon has made a name for herself through Freedom of Information cases, and working with reporter Ken Klippenstein of The Intercept.
She does the work with Klippenstein pro bono, but started a Patreon to discuss FOIA lawsuits, to subsidize her work.
She stressed that public defenders do not earn the same sums as other attorneys, and asked for help – but not pity.
‘Should you have sympathy for me? No. I took a risk in life with my own firm and that failed, and I divorced my husband with no safety net,’ she wrote.
‘Are there people on here in worse positions than me who deserve your money? Yes.’
She said the money would not be spent on her medical bills, but rather on buying her a home.
‘I currently have 5 credit cards with a total amount of debt around $39,800ish that I would like to pay off with this gofundme,’ she wrote.
‘My credit card debt is a huge impediment to buying a house.
‘Why do I need to buy a house? I want to be able to retire instead of working my way into my grave like my mother did when she died of the same breast cancer at age 58.’
Bourdon shared images of the two-bedroom, $352,500 property she hoped to buy, calling it ‘perfect’.
Bourdon said the house needed some work, but it was ‘perfect’
The 53-year-old said she does not want to ‘work myself to death’ like her mother did
But she said she hopes to remodel the home, installing central air conditioning; moving the island in the kitchen; and altering the ceiling.
The donations, she said, will be used to break her lease, move, and make a down payment.
She did not detail her lifestyle, but her TikTok shows her eating out three times at new Orlando noodle hotspot Zaru, where entrees are around $20.
Her social media also heavily features her cat, and her favorite recipes to cook at home.
‘Living on my own since 2019 and my failed firm from 2014-2016, caused me to run up my credit cards to pay for a website and other firm expenses and then getting divorced and moving into an apartment where I started from scratch didn’t help my credit cards either,’ she explained.
Bourdon in July was profiled by Fast Company, and said she appreciated her growing social media following.
‘I think the shock comes from expecting you to not be a fun person who is normal,’ she said.
‘You cannot dunk on a public defender. We have heard it all.’