10 posts tagged “family”

I had been looking for a nice pair of slippers that would also function as shoes when going outside. I found a really cool pair, but they were expensive and I knew I wouldn’t be able to get them. I still kept drooling over them though. I put up a wish on Greedy or Needy saying how I wanted these slippers.

Well..that wish was granted! Someone ordered the slippers from the company and had them sent to me. They arrived today. I was like a little kid tearing into a holiday package.

Here is a pic of the slippers and a description of them. They can be found here: Sportsman Guide

His ‘n’ her Guide Gear® Lace Chukka Slippers, genuine wool!

These Slippers are cozy and indoor / outdoor tough! The uppers are supple suede leather, and a slip-resistant rubber outsole makes them outdoors-ready.

These slippers are going to be great for me, they are light enough so I can lift my feet, the rubber soles are grippy enough so I am not sliding around even when my foot drags.  They come just over my ankle and tie tightly so they will keep my ankles warm.  The wish granter got the size just right too, I will be able to wear them with socks, but they will stay on my feet even without socks.  They are simply perfect!

I have had help for things that were needed to help with disability issues or household needs, but this was something for just me, something that would look good when I went out of the house, be warm and comfortable.  Mine, just for me and I’m so totally thrilled!!!

Ok, just wanted to share that

To the Wish Granter…thank you so very kindly.  I appreciate your generosity and the kindness will not be forgotten.

Doing our part for the holidays. Amy and I are active members of Dixie Thunder of Aiken County South Carolina. Dixie Thunder is a motorcyclists rights organization politically aware and active on the County and state level. They are also decent folks who share the motorcyclist lifestyle.

A few times a year they do runs and events to help local folks. Twice a year they do a benefit run for the Helping Hands shelter for abused and neglected children. Those runs are the back to school run and a holiday toy run. I have gone on all of the annual runs except last years holiday run. My legs had worsened and I didn’t have a scooter or wheelchair at that time so knew I would not be able to attend. I sent my contribution along with someone who would be making the run. This year though, nothing was going to stop me! I attended the back to school run in August and couldn’t wait to be able to go on the Holiday run. Amy and I decorated my scooter with holiday garland and a stuffed holiday puppy hung from the front of the handlebars so I’d be all ready for the event.
 
We met at the Midland Valley Plaza in Clearwater SC

 It would have been too much trouble to haul out the scooter and get it all set up here so Amy went and let Rick (chapter leader) know we were there, get our patches and find out what position we would be in the line up of tactical support vehicles.  Tactical support vehicles are automobiles that ride along with motorcycle parades and help out at events.  We usually follow at the rear of the pack with our flashers on so that other drivers know there is something going on ahead and to not pass us.  We have also been trained to watch and listen for motorcycle communication like hand signals, revving of the engine to alert someone etc.  We also know what to do if a rider goes down.  For other events we carry items that can’t be carried on motorcycles.  So while Amy was off getting all the info we needed I was hanging out taking pictures

While I was sitting here on the car a lady parked next to me asked me what was going on.  She is new in SC.  We explained what the run was about and she wanted to know if she could drive with everyone. We said yeah…just follow us.  She went and got a toy for kids and Amy took her to get the patches for her and her daughter. 

We talked more and explained what Dixie Thunder is all about.  She really had no clue about why you need to fight for rights and road equality.  Well….in route we saw the wreck, a car ignored the road guard blocking traffic for the parade and knocked him over,  she also saw us nearly get hit by 2 cars while trying to help.  Finally we got through the intersection and decided to go ahead and try to catch someone or get one of you by cell.  She pulled alongside us and rolled her window down in shock at what had happened.  She said “did that car really just hit that biker??”  We said yep….sadly happens all the time, cars just don’t care about these guys on the road.  We rolled on and at the Helping Hands went on to explain that this is a big part of what you fight for.  Freedom and equality on the road, that also means awareness.  That rider did not have to go down like that, it was carelessness.

At the end of the run, She wanted to know how she could join, she saw first hand the importance of a motorcycle rights organization in our county and state.

So, after the guy went down, we did go on, we saw one of our bikers coming back to the accident scene so we knew word got ahead to the riders and someone would be on scene with the biker.  We got to helping hands in perfect time to catch video of the bikers rolling in.

The Aiken Standard news paper reporter was there and the run was in the paper today, here is that article:

Toy Run held for holidays
12/6/2008 11:40 PM

By RACHEL JOHNSON
Staff writer

Rumbling could be felt in the sidewalks of Aiken yesterday as well over 250 bikers joined forces to spread the spirit of giving.

The Dixie Thunder of Aiken ABATE of South Carolina association held its 24th Annual Toy Run to benefit Helping Hands Inc. on Saturday. Helping Hands is a nonprofit organization that provides shelter for abused and neglected children.

“It is an unmistakable sound,” said Carmen Landy, director of Helping Hands. “This motorcycle run has always marked the beginning of the Christmas season for us. The countdown begins once the motorcycles pull in; it’s an exciting event.”

A line of black leather chaps, jackets and vests streamed from the community building at Helping Hands as motorcyclists hand-delivered toys and made monetary donations. The group delivered a roomful of toys and donated $1,037.

“This is the best turnout I can remember,” said Rick Cooper, Dixie Thunder Chapter coordinator.

“We feel so honored they come here every year. They are so excited to be here and they have so much energy, we try and match that energy,” said Landy. “The kids love it when the motorcycles come. They ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ over the bikes, and they start asking every day until Christmas when they can open their presents.”

The highlight for many of the children was Santa Claus, who rode in at the end of the motorcycle parade. The Toy Run started with a police escort at the Midland Valley Plaza in Clearwater, looping along Richland Avenue through downtown Aiken and down Barnwell Avenue.

Despite all of the excitement and joy, the need for motorcycle awareness was made clear as one participant was run over by a motorist along the parade route.

“This is the first time we have had an accident during a Toy Run,” said Cooper.

Rick Rainwaters stopped his bike to act as a road guard at an intersection on Richland Avenue. The function of the road guard is to alert motorists a parade is en route and to prevent them from pulling out and hitting a motorcyclist.

The Toy Run had police escorts in the front and the rear of the procession; however, it is customary for road guards to place themselves along the parade route.

“I was blocking the intersection as the parade went by; it was toward the end, and a car tried pulling out to squeeze into the parade,” said Rainwaters. “When he did, he knocked me over and tore up my bike.”

Luckily, Rainwaters suffered no major injuries; however, the important issue of safety was highlighted.

“He told me he had was a surgeon technician and had an emergency call,” said Rainwaters, as he shook his head. “It’s three minutes of courtesy for someone’s life.” For more information about Dixie Thunder of Aiken ABATE, visit dixiethunder.com or call 642-4633.

Original artlice can be viewed at The Aiken Standard by clicking this link:  http://www.aikenstandard.com/Local/1207Bikes

If you didn’t check out the video above, let me leave you with these pictures and a plead for you to watch for Motorcycles on the road.  These guys have families, friends and lives like everyone else.

Our buddy Rick from Dixie Thunder was working on the military post and he came across some used insulation and asked permission to get it. He got it and brought it to me, we had enough to patch together and get the ceiling covered. The same guy also took on another job later cleaning out an office. He came across a bolt of felt and brought that to us so tonight my neighbor and my oldest son are tacking up felt to hold the insulation. We had started stapling the insulation but my stapler died on us, we tried to duct tape it up there but that wasn’t holding…finally when we got this felt and are using some left over nails from the roof repair to tack the felt in place till the first when I can get a new stapler.

We now also have a piece of pressboard put into place for a door so little by little we are making some progress. We have lots more to do, but small steps lead to the finish line.

Amy cutting insulation…the new door is behind her

My oldest son and the neighbor putting up insulation

Ran out of staples so tried the duct tape

Which failed…

So now we are tacking up felt to hold the insulation in place

Ran out of nails, but we made some progress. We will have to finish the rest when I get paid on the first.

Getting there a little at a time

I’m proud of our accomplishments, it might not look like much to
others, but for us there is pride in being able to live with very
little and fix up something someone would use to store their junk in
and make it a fully wheelchair accessible space.  This area serves as my office/living room  Amy’s craft room and a cooking station.  The door behind Amy in the photo above leads into the kennel so I have throughout the day easy access to the animals.  There is a pet door cut into that door so the animals have access in/out of this space.  The door with the hanging of the cats which was made by my mother, goes out to our driveway so I am not battling a flight of stairs whenever I want to go to the car.

The only steps I battle now are these.  These steps were installed thanks to the help of friends of Wish Upon a Hero.  At the time I was able to use stairs however, what I didn’t know was how quickly I would become unable to use them. 

After several falls one of which resulted in a fractured foot bone that
healed really weird and left a good size bump of bony tissue on the
side of my foot…my days using stairs unaided came to an end.  With
the unpredictable nature of my bones, tendons and ligaments it’s only
logical now to face what I should been facing a long time ago.  The
need to prepare for what could and very likely will happen, and not
simply modify for what is currently happening because I am always
having to redo prior modifications to address changing situations. 
Should have done this years ago, but years ago I was not prepared to
admit a day would come when my mobility would become so seriously
limited.  I can’t avoid that reality now…but now I’m met with more
challenges than the physical and emotional ones.  I’m faced with
financial challenges that affect my whole family.

The ramp that will be built by Dixie Thunder volunteers will replace these steps so I have access from the rear exit in the mobile home, to the kennel, through the kennel and into the portable building where I will spend 90% of my day.

Eventually…and it will probably take a year or more, we will open the entire land plot and enlarge the kennel to include the whole piece of land.  This will allow for gardening, and a much larger kennel area.  Right now the only yard access I have is the kennel. 

Our home is built on a hill and there is a large embankment in the front of the house with a horse shoe path worn in by driving up down with car to make kind of a driveway.  It’s badly eroded, but it’s all we have to work with.

A mobility ramp to meet the height of the ground to house in the front entry would be over 40 feet and there simply is not enough usable space to put a ramp in…not to mention the cost of that!  Even with a ramp there, I would still have to get around to the back of the house.  The shortest, easiest and safest way to get into my back yard and parking spot for the car is through the rear kennel exit so I don’t plan on doing any modification to the front of the house unless it becomes an absolute unavoidable necessity which I really don’t see happening.

Over time modifications will be made to the mobile home so it will be fully chair accessible from end to end.  Since our goal is to live off from our own grown foods, keep a natural habitat for our animals, reduce basic living costs and coming off dependence on most common household things depends on fixing up the land plot and kennel so we can start our gardens.  Reducing food costs will free up some funds to work on the mobile home and spending most our time in the portable has already reduced our electric and water costs.

Dixie Thunder of Aiken County held their annual Crippled Critter Benefit to help raise funds for our private sanctuary most of which houses special needs animals.  The first Crippled Critter Benefit was founded by Dixie Thunder member PR

Here is a picture of PR (Center) his wife Faye (left) and Rick (Right)

This years event made it into the local newspaper and the Aiken Standard had this to say:

This year the goal is to put in a wheelchair/scooter ramp using the exit door that leads into the Kennel so I will have safe access to and from the kennel from the mobile home and to and from the kennel from the portable building.  Being able to use my wheelchair and/or scooter around the kennel will help tremendously and with access into the yard, it will make sense for us to finally open the entire land plot for use as kennel space and gardening space.  At the moment I have no access into the other parts of the yard.

The ramp will also enable those animals who have trouble with stairs to go in and out by themselves and they will enjoy a better quality of life as well.

Animals such as The elderly dog Ginger who attended the benefit.  She was adored by so many and really enjoyed her time.

Blind Cat Freddy.  Fred didn’t attend the Crippled critter benefit as the sounds, smells, strange hands etc would have frightened him too much.  Rick the Chapter Coordinator for Dixie Thunder met Freddy once and tried to pet him but the strange smell scared him so badly he tried to run and bumped into things.  We never let Fred go beyond his familiar surroundings.

3 legged cat Sidney who attended the Crippled Critter benefit for his second year and made friends with one of the bikers who just melted his heart by rubbing his head.

Little Junior with nerve damage in his rear paw.  He was originally found by Biker Judy Hamilton who was recently running for House Seat 83.  She found this little boy dragging his hind paw across the street.  After checking him out she called me to see if I would take him.  He attended his first Crippled Critter benefit and Judy got to see that he is coming along wonderful.  His little paw only acts up when he is running too fast.

Amy is here holding Junior at the Crippled Critter event, he is not the tiny little boy that would fit in my shoe anymore

This was Caroline’s second Crippled Critter event.  Caroline was brought with a heart defect that took her siblings.  Her mother stopped feeding and the family wanted someone who knew how to feed.  She wasn’t expected to grow up, but little Caroline went from this photo at the first Crippled Critter event

To the plumpy little princess that Redneck (Biker on the Right) is holding

Those who came last year were glad to see how well they were coming along and got to meet a few new faces this year.

Another one of the new faces is Poppy the very nervous, little slow, pup with a deviated septum.  She is a very clumsy girl.  Little Poppy was a roadside dump in the middle of a very cold February.  We don’t know what kind of life she had before finding her way into our family, but we know this big klutzy shy pup is loved and cherished now.  One biker melted her heart, the same one who managed to get Sidney to lay down and purr.  He is pictured here on Poppy’s level easing her fears.  As soon as he came up to her and started to calm her I said “you work with animals!”  Turns out he and his wife rescue and give sanctuary to dogs.

The group raised over $600 for the kennel modifications and we came home with a trunk load of donated food. 

The money for the kennel modification stays with the organization and once we have everything we need volunteers will get the supplies and come build the ramp.

It was a wonderful day!  I thank every single member of Dixie Thunder, Iron Horse Bar and Grill,
and all wonderful Aiken County SC folks who showed up with food donations for the critters.

We have had a really rough few months.  We had hoped to be caught up by now but it appears we are just getting farther behind.  By now we had hoped we would have some kind of walls up in the apartment and a door installed to replace the door that was damaged in last winters storm.

Well…That didn’t happen.  We just couldn’t swing paying the bills and getting building supplies too.  We pulled out our old kerosene heaters when it got cold in here.  Cleaned them up and went to our local store for kerosene.  We found out our local gas stations are no longer carrying kerosene.  We have to travel to another town to get it.  Ok.  So we got some, fired up the heater only to find it will not heat this space without the winterizing that needed to be done.  On these warmer heating nights we were still cold.  There is no way this is going to handle honestly cold days/nights.

Amy made another curtain to go over the one we already have in the door space.  We hoped the double thick curtain would help some, but that really isn’t going to do the trick so since we can’t afford to get building supplies and we know the kerosene heater isn’t going to keep us warm and even if it would, we can’t afford the gas and risk to out dying car to go out of town to get kerosene every few nights.  It would be ok if we could get it on our regular grocery nights, but the store that has kerosene is in a different town than where the strip of grocery stores is.  We needed another plan.

We had attended a Legislative Event with Dixie Thunder and there I let some of my buddies know I was looking for a cheap wood stove to put in our apartment.  We can get wood from the wood area behind our home, and we can always pick up road side branches and limbs for free.

Legislative Event Group Photo

Well word got around that I needed the wood stove and PR and Faye came up to talk to me.  Seems they have an old wood stove sitting in a barn that they could sell to me.  A friendly arrangement was made and we would be getting a wood stove soon.  Just need to get chimney supplies now.

Faye and PR at the Legislative Event

Just yesterday PR dropped off the wood stove.  Had no clue he had till I checked my voice mail.  We found out by surprise that one of my dogs who is mentally challenged (she is a newer dog to our pack)  Does not alert the other dogs, or bark at strangers.  Good thing she failed in her guard dog duties while someone was brining something TO our house and not taking something OUT of our house!

Anyhow…My son brought the stove inside and when Amy got home from work she decided the stove could use a good cleanup since it had been sitting in a barn and showed obvious signs of weather exposure.  Please excuse the wheelchair in the photo of Amy.  We don’t have any furniture so the old wheelchairs now serve as household furniture.

Amy Scrubbing the stove

Today we have a nice wood stove waiting for us to buy some chimney piping, and brick for underneath and behind it.

Even if we don’t have the walls done, or have a door installed soon, we will be able to get plenty of free wood behind our house to keep the stove hot and by eliminating the cost of heating fuel, we just might make it through till we can get some walls up and get a door hung.

Now to come up with some funds for chimney pipe!  The stove came with enough pipe to pipe from stove to wall.  We now need to get a T pipe, a chimney cap, and enough straight pipe to pipe from ground to about 2 feet above the roof pitch.  That is looking like 12-13 feet of straight pipe.  We haven’t had a chance to go pricing chimney pipe so we are not quite sure what we are facing in cost, but we are pretty sure it’s going to be less costly to pipe the stove, than to keep wasting gas and kerosene on a heating system that is worthless with no walls or door.

Finally, Dixie Thunder will be hosting the second annual Crippled Critter Benefit which they do for my animal sanctuary.  I am a small private sanctuary for non-medical special needs domestics.  The motorcycle group helps me raise funds for kennel supplies.  This year they are targeting enough funds to get supplies to build a wheelchair/scooter ramp from my kennel to the double wide home and a proper door exiting the kennel so I can bypass all stairs between the main house, kennel and my apartment.  Once the funds are raised there is a group of people from the organization who will get what supplies are needed and will build the ramp.

Here is the flier that is now being circulated for the event.

This week is the one year anniversary of my fall that aggravated prior existing conditions that eventually resulted in the end of my walking days. Looking back though I don’t have much to complain about. I have a scooter now and that makes going to many places that had been unavailable to me for a long time a reality now. I have a new wheelchair that can fit in the back seat of my car and I can move it with ease. I can lift this chair with my bad hand…no problem and I am able to roll on for hours with no shoulder pain. The risk of dislocation or tendon injury is very slim now.

I have a cooler to keep my food fresh, maybe next year we will get another fridge. My land payments are caught up so there is no threat of my land mortgage being turned over to the lawyer who attaches tons of extra fees.

I am now able to use the building in my back yard as my living room/kitchen area which gives me 12×24 feet of wheelchair accessible space and easy access to the kennel. The building needs some work before winter but right now it’s home and it’s nice to be able to answer my own door because I can get to it and I’m not falling down stairs several times a day because this building only has one small step that I have to manage and that will be fixed once we find a piece of plywood.

I didn’t come through all of this alone. My family, my local friends, and many online friends helped me through this past year. I’m not used to asking for or accepting help, but I’m glad that I did reach out. I found some wonderful people who made this past year MUCH easier and though some found me to be overly needy….something that bit deeply into my heart. Most understood that this past year has been a major turning point in my life and I needed a bit of help to manage such a huge change. Many who have come to know me know what local folks now now. I won’t rev up my scooter and leave people in the dust. Those who know me know my belief, when you are helped in life, paying it forward is not just a nice thing to do…it’s a spiritual debt to be paid on earth before you die. Since we never know when we will die, it’s a good idea to never take more than you believe you can pay forward in full.

We have chosen to stay where we live now permanently and will put in the house repairs on our own. We had planned to buy our own land, but so many changes happened in this past year that our dream had to change to meet reality. The reality is, and I have faced it. I will not be walking again. My mom and sister know this and waited till I came to terms with it emotionally before suggesting that Amy and I finish paying off the house/land and just stay here. The house can be given over to us when it’s paid off. The land is not the deep rural land we wanted…but it’s a practical piece of ground that can be ours and with that, we will never be homeless.

We will find a way to open up our entire land lot and utilize the whole plot to build our raised gardens. That will require a new kennel system so again that will take some time. We can still grow some livestock for animal food but will probably depend more on area hunters to keep them in a better diet. Our family is moving to a vegetarian diet to come off our dependence on grocery store meats and will eventually grow our vegetables and herbs taking us off the dependence on commercially farmed produce too.

Hopefully in the coming months we will begin to renovate the mobile home and make it handicap accessible, but for now I do have a 12×24 foot building that I can get around safely in. We will try to buy a van with income tax money which will reduce much of the financial strain we have been enduring the past few months. The actual repairs to the house are not serious. The repairs we will be able to tackle with some help of my local buddies. The renovations to make the house wheelchair accessible will be much more costly so it’s going to take some time, but then again building a self sustaining farm with eco-buildings was going to take time too.

THANK YOU to my family, local friends and online friends! Honestly….I could not have come this far without your help on the various levels. I choose to celebrate my one year anniversary on a positive note. If not for you, I would still be stuck in a 12×12 room unable to leave and would have been suffering rather than learning how to live this new life that I’m living now. So much still needs to be done for me to adapt to this new life….but already SO MUCH has changed to make my life much better.

These are some of the things made possible by your help.

Visiting A Friend

Visiting My Sister

Visiting my whole family

Attending a Charity Event for Abused and Neglected children in a shelter

Saving the lives of my animals..LOL…even if it ended in a flat tire, the animals were saved. see the dog in the window?

Helping me to attend fund raising events

Allowing me to visit my beloved botanical gardens

After going over a week with dry goods or running to the store nightly for fresh food…we finally got a cooler to replace our dead fridge.

We got an Igloo Polar 120 Quart Cooler at Walmart for $48.83 + tax It will be able to hold a week of groceries in it and with some dry ice added to the wet ice we will be able to store it safely. We have to work on getting a cooler to store cat food but I will be able to look around for a used cooler for that.

Here is our new piece of furniture, we owe thanks to the many from GON who helped us get by this week.

My sister continues to heal well though not impressed at all with this whole staying out of work thing.  My son picked up the fuel filter for our car and then when disassembling the old one found all the lines were mucked up so he’s been cleaning up fuel and air lines hoping to take care of the fuel system problem in the car while we start checking around for mechanics in that area who can fix the car so that we can bring it home.  My sister just recently moved to this place she lives at now and I don’t know the area at all, so nobody really knows where to go, or who to contact to get the car fixed on a budget.  We have to get it done very soon though so I might wind up paying more than I can afford to get it back home.

That is where we are at now, some good news and bad news but lately that is the story of my life.

My sister is on the healing end of her nightmare. She is home and in her own bed being helped by our mom and my son. Today is her birthday. I called to wish her a happy birthday, but those wishes kind of fall like a lead balloon when one is in such pain and discomfort. At least she knows I was thinking about her though and reminding her that she did indeed live to see this anniversary of her birth.

My car is still dead in her driveway, 2 hours from here and I’m not sure how I will get it repaired to get it back home. Friends on GON have helped me tremendously this week so that our family could have decent food and gas to get to the store to get food every night. We don’t have coolers yet so unless we are going to eat dry goods alone we have to travel nightly to a store for meat and vegetables.

We hope to get at least one cooler on Saturday and will get another one after the first of the month. At least then I can do a few days of groceries at a time and save on gas money.

It’s been a hard few months and I keep looking for the silver lining, but I know October is going to be just as hard. I have get that car fixed and we will be spending more in gas money without a fridge/freezer. I have to catch up on bills I paid partials on in order to get by. Not covering partials only means late fees and more money going out which doesn’t help.

I still have a long road to go, but it’s an easier walk knowing my sister is healing. I made it this far with the help of those who care, I’m really hoping to make a good stretch on my own. I appreciate everything everyone has done, and I’m not really sure what I would have done without the help of others, but there is no pride in having to be picked up and carried. I just want to be strong enough to start baby stepping my way through this and begin paying forward all the help I have received.

This is my Sister, her name is Carrie

For the last few days she had been ill thinking perhaps she caught a common flu, only it went from flu to pain and serious illness.

Last night was in severe pain and in the early morning hours was finally brought to the emergency room where it was found air and stomach contents were into areas they didn’t belong causing expansion and systemic infection.

She needed to be rushed to the operating room where she was incised from breastbone to about 12-14 inches down to clean the stomach products out of her cavities.

She made it through that high risk procedure and we are now onto battling the infections. She is allergic to most antibiotics on a serious level so it’s going to be a trial and error/wait and see thing for now.

Please send positive thoughts for healing and strength to my sister and for the Doctors and Nurses who treat her allow them a keen eye, skilled hand and healing power to help bring her through this.

A little history on my sister.

She is 37 years old and is a widow. Her husband took his life due to severe mental illness in 2001. She has no children. Her area of skill and profession was in working with juvenile offenders who were victims of child abuse, she was great at her job and was always well loved by her clients and co-workers. She left her field of working with child offenders after needing spinal surgery that left her with lifelong spinal pain and some nerve damage that affected her leg. She now works the business end of things at Verizon Wireless and is again loved by her co-workers. She hasn’t been able to return to her previous field, mostly due to the failing economy. Her battle with weight issues had lasted for many years a and finally after many professional programs it was decided her life was at risk and the bariatric surgery was necessary.

She had been doing perfectly for so long. There were complications mostly diet related and she needed supplements and medication to keep everything in control, but this came out of nowhere.

She is young, and full of life, She has been my side all my life. My mother was scheduled to be with her own sister as she goes through another round of chemo. My Uncle is of failing health and cannot assist her. My mom was due to leave this weekend but now must be at her daughters side to pray.

I can’t be there with my sister due to a serious lack of funds, I’m barely feeding my family, I can’t afford gas, my own car isn’t running, I’m borrowing one that shouldn’t be on the road, my fridge is dead, I can’t afford a cooler and we are trying to get by on an inadequate diet due to money and no fridge while me an my son are on medical diets. It has been a terrible last few months, our whole family has been suffering and now one lies with their life at risk.

The thread I have been hanging onto is beginning to unravel but it can’t….I must be strong for my sister. I only question am I that strong?