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My daughter and I are in need of finding a place of our own. These past couple months have been extremely hard because of the death of my mother. We were all living together and my mom was splitting the rent with me and I was working to take care of her. She was sick with Cancer and she had the operation and we all thought she was going to be okay. She did not recover like we expected and she ended up going in a Rehabilitation Center and we visited her often until she came home. I am the youngest of her children. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister and we are called the Berry 5. We were allways known as the Berry Family from the time we were little. My mom started to do better and we were so happy to have her home. It came time for her to Start Chemotherapy and Radiation. She was scared but I and my sister talked her into it because we knew the doctors had told us that she needed it because the cancer had spread to her lymp nodes and when they did the surgery they were not able to get everything. My mom had done one week of Radiation and she went in for one session of Chemo. The same day she had Chemo she seemed fine and then 2 days later she was having fevers, throwing up and so extremely weak. I thought it was because of the Chemo because that is what was explained to us. My concern was she couldn't keep anything down. I needed to give her medication for her Diabetes and High Blood Pressure but everytime I gave her anything, it all came up and so I was so scared because her blood sugar was high and I didn't want it to get any higher. She began to complain of stomach pain and I thought it was another side effect of the Chemo. For a couple days of her vomiting and having diarrhea, I was able to get some fluids down her and it seemed to stay. Little by little we both thought she was doing better. Her strength was not there though, it was difficult for her to even get up to go to the bathroom. The following day she continued to vomit and I was scared so I told her she needed to go to the hospital, because I felt that they could help her more. They could give her medications through an IV and they could find out why she was so weak and everything. She was scared and did not want to go but I convinced her. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I tried to follow her but I had to pick up my 11 year old daughter from school. I did go and they would not let me go back right away. I told them my mom had been brought in and they told me she wasn't checked in yet. About 20 minutes passed and I went back up to the window and they told me they would see if the doctor would let me back there and they were saying my daughter couldn't come back there because she wasn't 14, I told them she is only 11 years old and I'm not leaving her in the waiting room with strangers and that she was coming back there with me. They finally let us in and we went back to see my mom. I couldn't believe they had her hooked up to so many machines and she was on morphine and so out of it. I walked up to her and I said Ma, I'm here and she turned and looked at me. She was happy to see me, but then she told me that they told her, they found blood in her stools. I told her it was probably just do to her Hemorrhoids. but she said they told her it was positive for something. I asked her for what and she didn't know. I began looking for the doctor so I could ask questions but he wasn't around and everyone I talked to told me the doctor would be in soon to go over my mom's condition. I stayed with my mom, just holding her hand, telling her I loved her and that she was going to be okay. They came in to take her to have an ultrasound and my daughter and I waited. The doctor finally came in and told me that my mom had an abcess in her stomach that had burst. I said what are you talking about? He said that she had a condition called peridonitis and that the abcess burst and was releasing all this poison inside her stomach and her blood pressure was dropping dramatically. He then told me it was too dangerous for them to operate at that time because her INR level to to high. My mom had been taking Cumadin for a blood clot that she previously had and the cumadin made her INR level extremely high and her blood was not clotting so they said if they did surgery, she would bleed out. They said they needed to correct it by giving her lots of blood products and they gave her all kinds of strong antibiotics and blood and plasma. They were pumping so much stuff into her, I didn't know what to do. Her blood pressure was like 85/60 and then like 76/40 and it was getting lower and lower. They had her hooked up to so many IVs and then they told me that she was the sickest person they had in the ER. So many doctors and interns and students and nurses overcrowded my mom's room. I called my sister and told her what was going on and she came down to be with me and my daughter. They told us they would do all they could for my mom but that it didn't look good. I began to pray, my mom had always taught me to pray and give things over to god. As the night went on, they decided to put an IV in my moms neck, they said it was more direct and if and when she went to surgery it would be better to have that in place. They made us leave the room and they had like 10 people in there with there machines and cameras and equipment to help guide them where to put the IV at. I had never gone through this before and I was so scared but I was keeping my faith. One doctor wanted to talk to me and my sister alone and I didn't want to hear him telling me anything negative. He asked us a lot of questions concerning my mom's health and history. He then told us that she was in acute renal failure and that her colon was damaged where the abcess bursts and fecal was being released into her abdomen. This is the last thing I wanted to hear. I asked him if they could fix it, he said they would do all they could but that their main focus was trying to bring her INR levels down because they were dangerously high. She was also anemic and that is why she was so weak, her blood level was extremely low. They were continuously giving her blood products, antibiotics and plasma. My sister decided to take my daughter home with her. I told her I would call her when I knew when they were going to do surgery. The surgeon had spoken to us and said that it was a good chance, and that operating was her only chance and once her blood level was corrected that they would go in and repair the damage. I felt some what relieved but as the night went on she was in a fight for her life. The main doctor working on my mom's case came and told me that her breathing was not getting any better and that he needed to put her to sleep so he could intubate her and put a breathing tube down her throat. He said it would be good to have anyways so that she would be ready when they went to surgery. There was nothing I could do except walk out of the room and wait. I continued to pray and wait and pray and wait. Hours went by and I would walk and peek inside the room and see my mom's blood pressure increasing some, this gave me hope but then the doctor would come and tell me it wasn't looking like she was improving and that we needed to prepare that she might not make it through the night. i couldn't believe what he was telling me. I called my sister and my brother and told them , they were praying as well. I didn't know who to listen to, one doctor is telling me it's hopeless and the surgeon is telling me it's a good chance she would be okay once taken to surgery. I sat in the hall because they wouldn't let me back in and they stayed with her at all times, monitoring her and giving her medicine and all the blood and stuff back to back. Then they came out in the hall and told me they were ready to take her to surgery. They said she might not hear you but you can still talk to her. I walked up to her lying there, so still and I told her how much I loved her and i told her to fight and that we would do it togther and that I would be here when she woke up and that I was not leaving her. The surgeon put me in the OR waiting room. I was all alone in there by myself. I waited and waited and only 20 mins went by and a security guard told me there was a cafe there and if I wanted to go grab a cup of coffee that I could. I went downstairs and got the coffee, as soon as I reached the OR floor I saw the surgeon standing there, he walked over to me and he said, I'm sorry but your mom's heart stopped during surgery and we revived her but then it stopped again and he said I don't we can get it back. My whole world just crumbled, I began screaming and crying and I fell to the floor. I was just askig God why. Why is this happening? This security lady came over to comfort me and began telling me how sorry she was and asked me if I had any family I could call. I called my sister and told her and she said she was on her way down. She lived in another city about 45 mins away. I was still on the ground just broken and this lady began to tell me that God would help me and give me the strength to go on. She asked me if I had any children, I told her I had a daughter, and she told me I needed to be strong for her. I wasn't trying to hear all that. My whole world was ripped right from under me. A couple of doctors and this lady helped me off the floor and the surgeon that came out , came out again and told me they would take me back to see her. They brought out a wheelchair and wheeled me back there and when they opened the door, my god I just saw them on top of her doing chest compressions and I was just screaming and then the surgeon is telling me I need to make a decision because everytime they do that, they are hurting her and he said, you don't want her to suffer anymore. I was just waiting on my sister4. I didn't want to make that call but I didn't want them pounding her chest in so I told them to stop. It killed in me inside. They wheeled me over to her and I just cried. My mom was only 60 years old and she had her whole life ahead of her and I don't understand why any of this happened. She was such a beautiful person and she had been a christian for 33 years. SHe loved the lord and she raised me and my siblings up in the church. I couldn't believe that she was gone because I had prayed and prayed and I just knew that God would spare her life. I lost my real father at the age of 16 and even then I didn't know him. I always had my mom and she remarried when I was 11 years old. She had been married for 19 years and my step father passed away in July of 2008. He was a sickly person and she took care of him and nursed him for all those years. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, he was on dialysis for kidney failure, he had a four by pass surgery and he was in and out of the hospitals for years. She suffered so much seeing him suffer and taking care of him, he took what little strength she had. But because he was her husband she did all she could to help him and she loved him so much. So now all remains is just me and my siblings. It's hard because my mom was my best friend. I can't remember a time when she wasn't around. We did everything together and we lived together for years and I took care of her. I wanted so bad for her to be okay and to make it through surgery, I had been taught for years about the love of Jesus and I couldn't understand what he chose to take her away from her children and grandchildren. We had a two bedroom apartment and she had her room and my daughter and I shared a room. After she died, I went home that morning with my sister and I stayed over there for the remainder of the day. The whole day was just hurting, crying and calling the rest of the family. I felt so bad because my youngest brother, say youngest because he is the youngest of my 3 brothers, even though they are all older than me. He came to the hospital to see my mom but he thought she was still alive and the doctors didn't tell him, they let him in the room and she was already covered up and he walked in and was like, it's over ?? he couldn't believe it , he just broke down. One of the nurses that was in the OR called my sister and he was crying, apologizing to us because he thought my brother already knew. He told us how sorry he was. Now my family is broken, my mom was the rock that held us all together. We didn't have money growing up, we didn't have a lot of the finer things in life but we had love. She loved us like no one could. She did it all for her children and most importantly she taught us about God. She lived her life for Jesus, she would pray on a regular basis, read her bible daily, go to church often as she could and when things looked hopeless she took them to god in prayer. She prayed not only for her children, grandchildren and siblings but for people all over the world, she would pray for all the countries and for the sick and homeless and anyone she could pray for. She gave over the years endlessly to Trinity Broadcasting Network, Feed the children, CBN, David Terrell Ministries, Boys Town, Children International, Food For All and to so many others. Month after month, year after year she was giving. She taught us how to give and there were times when we would just make food and take it to the park to give to the homeless, bottled water, sandwiches, noodles, chicken or whatever we could. She would never turn down a person needing help or asking for spare change, she would give freely. She would tell me all the time, it's better to give than to receive and that god would bless me. So I began giving as well, I would call and donate and try to help whenever I could. My mom was also a big giver to the goodwill. Over the years we gave so much, and everytime they would ask if we wanted a donation paper for a tax write off she would say no. she didn't want that, she was giving freely and she didn't want anything in return. That's who she was, she was the person who would mentor you and talk to you about Jesus and how over the years he brought her and our family through so many trials and tribulations. SHe praised god for everything, for the good times and the bad. She used to always tell me to be thankful and to praise god. Now there were times when i was suffering so much and I didn't want to praise god, I wanted god to help me and at the time it seemed like he wasn't. My mom was always there to tell me baby, hold on.. give your burdens over to the lord and he will help you and supply all your needs. I realized that he did just that. I remember when she had surgery for the cancer and she was wondering why god allowed her to come down with that. It was hard for her because her faith was shaken then. She couldn't believe after she was faithful to him for so many years that he would allow her to suffer so horribly and there my sister and I were telling her that she would be okay, that God loved her still and he had not forsaken her and that he would bring her through this. She was so discouraged at the time but we would not let up. She couldn't believe this was her children mentoring and encouragiing her as she had done for us over the years. She told me, she was happy and she felt relieved that her living and everything she had taught us was not in vain. She was thankful to God that we were listening to her and by example we followed her footsteps. She began to get better and we thought she would be okay. My mom was a pure Christian, she didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, didn't curse. She would make you turn the tv channel if you were watching something that cursed. She loved her cowboys though. Her favorites were Bonanza, The rifle man, High Chapparal, Wagon Train, The Virginian and so many others. She also loved the old shows, the clean shows, the original dennis the menace, columbo, family affair, petticoat junction, I married joan, hawai five o, the streets of san francisco, i spy, murder she wrote, in the heat of the night, matlock, the big vally, dr quinn, little house on the prairie, family ties, good times, 227, what's happening, the jeffersons, the brady bunch and so many others. Her favorite game shows were The price is right, deal or no deal, let's make a deal, the newlywed game, match game and who wants to be a millionaire. I loved spending time with my mom, she was someone I could always talk to and she would never judge me, she would tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me. She taught me how to carry myself as a lady and she taught me how to stand up for myself and I owe her so much. I felt like I let her down that night she was in the hospital and I told her she would be okay and that I would be waiting for her when she woke up but she never woke up. I felt that made me a liar. I had been taking care of my mom for months and I was preparing her meals, giving her medications on schedule and was taking her to her appointments and running errands for her. My mom had been weak for so long because before she found out she had cancer she was bleeding perfusely having vaginal bleeding and they made her very anemic. Before surgery she had 4 transfusions and then after surgery she had 2 more. She never got all her strength back and after she had the first surgery, she was too weak that they sent her to Ballard Rehabilitation and they were working on getting her strength back and getting her up and walking. She did so much better when she was in there and when she came home, they sent out a home health nurse, a physcialy therapist and an occupational therapist. They began doing exercises with her and the physical therapist thought it would benefit my mom to have some help with getting around. So she ordered her an walker , the kind that had a seat on it, she ordered her a wheel chair, a raised toilet seat with the rails and a shower chair and shower bench. So when my mom started walking more better she was using her walker all the time, it was helping her because she had the support to keep her from falling and when she got tired , she could just sit down. I did all I could to take care of her, on a daily basis. She was not strong enough to shower herself, so I bought the shower hose and I began to shower her daily, dress her and do everything for her but I loved her so much and I didn't care what I had to do, she was my mom. There were days when she thought she was a burden to me and she would tell me, that I work to hard and that she was sorry she was not able to do things for herself and i would immediately tell her to stop talking like that. I would tell her, she was my mom, I loved her and wanted to look after her and that she wasn't a burden on me. That she took care of me when I was little and over the years and now it was my turn to take care of her. She told me a couple weeks before she passed away , you said, you really stood by your mom, when all the others went on their way. you stood by your mom. She said, I don't know what I would have done with out you. She said I don't know how I would have made it and she said god is really going to bless you and he will remember everything you did for your mother. She told me how special I was and now that she is gone , I remember everything she ever told me. It has been so hard, going through all her things and seeing all the cards and letters she gave me over the years. Everybody keeps telling me it will get better but I don't see that happening. I can't go one day without crying for missing her so much. I am grateful because she is not in any more pain but I am hurting so badly without her. I have a big sister but we have never been that close, she seems to want to spend more time with me now but nobody could ever feel that empty space inside my heart for my mother. I recently moved in with my brother and I want so desperately for me and my daughter to be able to get a place of our own. It costs so much to pay for first and last months rent and I have this old 1994 car that has been giving me so much trouble and I am barely scraping along , just trying to make it. I would appreciate any help I am given. If anyone can find it in their heart to help me and my daughter move out and get our own place or simply help us with the day to day necessities, it would be greatly appreciated.

My daughter and I are in need of finding a place of our own. These past couple months have been extremely hard because of the death of my mother. We were all living together and my mom was splitting the rent with me and I was working to take care of her. She was sick with Cancer and she had the operation and we all thought she was going to be okay. She did not recover like we expected and she ended up going in a Rehabilitation Center and we visited her often until she came home. I am the youngest of her children. I have 3 brothers and 1 sister and we are called the Berry 5. We were allways known as the Berry Family from the time we were little. My mom started to do better and we were so happy to have her home. It came time for her to Start Chemotherapy and Radiation. She was scared but I and my sister talked her into it because we knew the doctors had told us that she needed it because the cancer had spread to her lymp nodes and when they did the surgery they were not able to get everything. My mom had done one week of Radiation and she went in for one session of Chemo. The same day she had Chemo she seemed fine and then 2 days later she was having fevers, throwing up and so extremely weak. I thought it was because of the Chemo because that is what was explained to us. My concern was she couldn't keep anything down. I needed to give her medication for her Diabetes and High Blood Pressure but everytime I gave her anything, it all came up and so I was so scared because her blood sugar was high and I didn't want it to get any higher. She began to complain of stomach pain and I thought it was another side effect of the Chemo. For a couple days of her vomiting and having diarrhea, I was able to get some fluids down her and it seemed to stay. Little by little we both thought she was doing better. Her strength was not there though, it was difficult for her to even get up to go to the bathroom. The following day she continued to vomit and I was scared so I told her she needed to go to the hospital, because I felt that they could help her more. They could give her medications through an IV and they could find out why she was so weak and everything. She was scared and did not want to go but I convinced her. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital. I tried to follow her but I had to pick up my 11 year old daughter from school. I did go and they would not let me go back right away. I told them my mom had been brought in and they told me she wasn't checked in yet. About 20 minutes passed and I went back up to the window and they told me they would see if the doctor would let me back there and they were saying my daughter couldn't come back there because she wasn't 14, I told them she is only 11 years old and I'm not leaving her in the waiting room with strangers and that she was coming back there with me. They finally let us in and we went back to see my mom. I couldn't believe they had her hooked up to so many machines and she was on morphine and so out of it. I walked up to her and I said Ma, I'm here and she turned and looked at me. She was happy to see me, but then she told me that they told her, they found blood in her stools. I told her it was probably just do to her Hemorrhoids. but she said they told her it was positive for something. I asked her for what and she didn't know. I began looking for the doctor so I could ask questions but he wasn't around and everyone I talked to told me the doctor would be in soon to go over my mom's condition. I stayed with my mom, just holding her hand, telling her I loved her and that she was going to be okay. They came in to take her to have an ultrasound and my daughter and I waited. The doctor finally came in and told me that my mom had an abcess in her stomach that had burst. I said what are you talking about? He said that she had a condition called peridonitis and that the abcess burst and was releasing all this poison inside her stomach and her blood pressure was dropping dramatically. He then told me it was too dangerous for them to operate at that time because her INR level to to high. My mom had been taking Cumadin for a blood clot that she previously had and the cumadin made her INR level extremely high and her blood was not clotting so they said if they did surgery, she would bleed out. They said they needed to correct it by giving her lots of blood products and they gave her all kinds of strong antibiotics and blood and plasma. They were pumping so much stuff into her, I didn't know what to do. Her blood pressure was like 85/60 and then like 76/40 and it was getting lower and lower. They had her hooked up to so many IVs and then they told me that she was the sickest person they had in the ER. So many doctors and interns and students and nurses overcrowded my mom's room. I called my sister and told her what was going on and she came down to be with me and my daughter. They told us they would do all they could for my mom but that it didn't look good. I began to pray, my mom had always taught me to pray and give things over to god. As the night went on, they decided to put an IV in my moms neck, they said it was more direct and if and when she went to surgery it would be better to have that in place. They made us leave the room and they had like 10 people in there with there machines and cameras and equipment to help guide them where to put the IV at. I had never gone through this before and I was so scared but I was keeping my faith. One doctor wanted to talk to me and my sister alone and I didn't want to hear him telling me anything negative. He asked us a lot of questions concerning my mom's health and history. He then told us that she was in acute renal failure and that her colon was damaged where the abcess bursts and fecal was being released into her abdomen. This is the last thing I wanted to hear. I asked him if they could fix it, he said they would do all they could but that their main focus was trying to bring her INR levels down because they were dangerously high. She was also anemic and that is why she was so weak, her blood level was extremely low. They were continuously giving her blood products, antibiotics and plasma. My sister decided to take my daughter home with her. I told her I would call her when I knew when they were going to do surgery. The surgeon had spoken to us and said that it was a good chance, and that operating was her only chance and once her blood level was corrected that they would go in and repair the damage. I felt some what relieved but as the night went on she was in a fight for her life. The main doctor working on my mom's case came and told me that her breathing was not getting any better and that he needed to put her to sleep so he could intubate her and put a breathing tube down her throat. He said it would be good to have anyways so that she would be ready when they went to surgery. There was nothing I could do except walk out of the room and wait. I continued to pray and wait and pray and wait. Hours went by and I would walk and peek inside the room and see my mom's blood pressure increasing some, this gave me hope but then the doctor would come and tell me it wasn't looking like she was improving and that we needed to prepare that she might not make it through the night. i couldn't believe what he was telling me. I called my sister and my brother and told them , they were praying as well. I didn't know who to listen to, one doctor is telling me it's hopeless and the surgeon is telling me it's a good chance she would be okay once taken to surgery. I sat in the hall because they wouldn't let me back in and they stayed with her at all times, monitoring her and giving her medicine and all the blood and stuff back to back. Then they came out in the hall and told me they were ready to take her to surgery. They said she might not hear you but you can still talk to her. I walked up to her lying there, so still and I told her how much I loved her and i told her to fight and that we would do it togther and that I would be here when she woke up and that I was not leaving her. The surgeon put me in the OR waiting room. I was all alone in there by myself. I waited and waited and only 20 mins went by and a security guard told me there was a cafe there and if I wanted to go grab a cup of coffee that I could. I went downstairs and got the coffee, as soon as I reached the OR floor I saw the surgeon standing there, he walked over to me and he said, I'm sorry but your mom's heart stopped during surgery and we revived her but then it stopped again and he said I don't we can get it back. My whole world just crumbled, I began screaming and crying and I fell to the floor. I was just askig God why. Why is this happening? This security lady came over to comfort me and began telling me how sorry she was and asked me if I had any family I could call. I called my sister and told her and she said she was on her way down. She lived in another city about 45 mins away. I was still on the ground just broken and this lady began to tell me that God would help me and give me the strength to go on. She asked me if I had any children, I told her I had a daughter, and she told me I needed to be strong for her. I wasn't trying to hear all that. My whole world was ripped right from under me. A couple of doctors and this lady helped me off the floor and the surgeon that came out , came out again and told me they would take me back to see her. They brought out a wheelchair and wheeled me back there and when they opened the door, my god I just saw them on top of her doing chest compressions and I was just screaming and then the surgeon is telling me I need to make a decision because everytime they do that, they are hurting her and he said, you don't want her to suffer anymore. I was just waiting on my sister4. I didn't want to make that call but I didn't want them pounding her chest in so I told them to stop. It killed in me inside. They wheeled me over to her and I just cried. My mom was only 60 years old and she had her whole life ahead of her and I don't understand why any of this happened. She was such a beautiful person and she had been a christian for 33 years. SHe loved the lord and she raised me and my siblings up in the church. I couldn't believe that she was gone because I had prayed and prayed and I just knew that God would spare her life. I lost my real father at the age of 16 and even then I didn't know him. I always had my mom and she remarried when I was 11 years old. She had been married for 19 years and my step father passed away in July of 2008. He was a sickly person and she took care of him and nursed him for all those years. He had diabetes, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, he was on dialysis for kidney failure, he had a four by pass surgery and he was in and out of the hospitals for years. She suffered so much seeing him suffer and taking care of him, he took what little strength she had. But because he was her husband she did all she could to help him and she loved him so much. So now all remains is just me and my siblings. It's hard because my mom was my best friend. I can't remember a time when she wasn't around. We did everything together and we lived together for years and I took care of her. I wanted so bad for her to be okay and to make it through surgery, I had been taught for years about the love of Jesus and I couldn't understand what he chose to take her away from her children and grandchildren. We had a two bedroom apartment and she had her room and my daughter and I shared a room. After she died, I went home that morning with my sister and I stayed over there for the remainder of the day. The whole day was just hurting, crying and calling the rest of the family. I felt so bad because my youngest brother, say youngest because he is the youngest of my 3 brothers, even though they are all older than me. He came to the hospital to see my mom but he thought she was still alive and the doctors didn't tell him, they let him in the room and she was already covered up and he walked in and was like, it's over ?? he couldn't believe it , he just broke down. One of the nurses that was in the OR called my sister and he was crying, apologizing to us because he thought my brother already knew. He told us how sorry he was. Now my family is broken, my mom was the rock that held us all together. We didn't have money growing up, we didn't have a lot of the finer things in life but we had love. She loved us like no one could. She did it all for her children and most importantly she taught us about God. She lived her life for Jesus, she would pray on a regular basis, read her bible daily, go to church often as she could and when things looked hopeless she took them to god in prayer. She prayed not only for her children, grandchildren and siblings but for people all over the world, she would pray for all the countries and for the sick and homeless and anyone she could pray for. She gave over the years endlessly to Trinity Broadcasting Network, Feed the children, CBN, David Terrell Ministries, Boys Town, Children International, Food For All and to so many others. Month after month, year after year she was giving. She taught us how to give and there were times when we would just make food and take it to the park to give to the homeless, bottled water, sandwiches, noodles, chicken or whatever we could. She would never turn down a person needing help or asking for spare change, she would give freely. She would tell me all the time, it's better to give than to receive and that god would bless me. So I began giving as well, I would call and donate and try to help whenever I could. My mom was also a big giver to the goodwill. Over the years we gave so much, and everytime they would ask if we wanted a donation paper for a tax write off she would say no. she didn't want that, she was giving freely and she didn't want anything in return. That's who she was, she was the person who would mentor you and talk to you about Jesus and how over the years he brought her and our family through so many trials and tribulations. SHe praised god for everything, for the good times and the bad. She used to always tell me to be thankful and to praise god. Now there were times when i was suffering so much and I didn't want to praise god, I wanted god to help me and at the time it seemed like he wasn't. My mom was always there to tell me baby, hold on.. give your burdens over to the lord and he will help you and supply all your needs. I realized that he did just that. I remember when she had surgery for the cancer and she was wondering why god allowed her to come down with that. It was hard for her because her faith was shaken then. She couldn't believe after she was faithful to him for so many years that he would allow her to suffer so horribly and there my sister and I were telling her that she would be okay, that God loved her still and he had not forsaken her and that he would bring her through this. She was so discouraged at the time but we would not let up. She couldn't believe this was her children mentoring and encouragiing her as she had done for us over the years. She told me, she was happy and she felt relieved that her living and everything she had taught us was not in vain. She was thankful to God that we were listening to her and by example we followed her footsteps. She began to get better and we thought she would be okay. My mom was a pure Christian, she didn't drink, didn't smoke, didn't do drugs, didn't curse. She would make you turn the tv channel if you were watching something that cursed. She loved her cowboys though. Her favorites were Bonanza, The rifle man, High Chapparal, Wagon Train, The Virginian and so many others. She also loved the old shows, the clean shows, the original dennis the menace, columbo, family affair, petticoat junction, I married joan, hawai five o, the streets of san francisco, i spy, murder she wrote, in the heat of the night, matlock, the big vally, dr quinn, little house on the prairie, family ties, good times, 227, what's happening, the jeffersons, the brady bunch and so many others. Her favorite game shows were The price is right, deal or no deal, let's make a deal, the newlywed game, match game and who wants to be a millionaire. I loved spending time with my mom, she was someone I could always talk to and she would never judge me, she would tell me how much she loved me and how proud she was of me. She taught me how to carry myself as a lady and she taught me how to stand up for myself and I owe her so much. I felt like I let her down that night she was in the hospital and I told her she would be okay and that I would be waiting for her when she woke up but she never woke up. I felt that made me a liar. I had been taking care of my mom for months and I was preparing her meals, giving her medications on schedule and was taking her to her appointments and running errands for her. My mom had been weak for so long because before she found out she had cancer she was bleeding perfusely having vaginal bleeding and they made her very anemic. Before surgery she had 4 transfusions and then after surgery she had 2 more. She never got all her strength back and after she had the first surgery, she was too weak that they sent her to Ballard Rehabilitation and they were working on getting her strength back and getting her up and walking. She did so much better when she was in there and when she came home, they sent out a home health nurse, a physcialy therapist and an occupational therapist. They began doing exercises with her and the physical therapist thought it would benefit my mom to have some help with getting around. So she ordered her an walker , the kind that had a seat on it, she ordered her a wheel chair, a raised toilet seat with the rails and a shower chair and shower bench. So when my mom started walking more better she was using her walker all the time, it was helping her because she had the support to keep her from falling and when she got tired , she could just sit down. I did all I could to take care of her, on a daily basis. She was not strong enough to shower herself, so I bought the shower hose and I began to shower her daily, dress her and do everything for her but I loved her so much and I didn't care what I had to do, she was my mom. There were days when she thought she was a burden to me and she would tell me, that I work to hard and that she was sorry she was not able to do things for herself and i would immediately tell her to stop talking like that. I would tell her, she was my mom, I loved her and wanted to look after her and that she wasn't a burden on me. That she took care of me when I was little and over the years and now it was my turn to take care of her. She told me a couple weeks before she passed away , you said, you really stood by your mom, when all the others went on their way. you stood by your mom. She said, I don't know what I would have done with out you. She said I don't know how I would have made it and she said god is really going to bless you and he will remember everything you did for your mother. She told me how special I was and now that she is gone , I remember everything she ever told me. It has been so hard, going through all her things and seeing all the cards and letters she gave me over the years. Everybody keeps telling me it will get better but I don't see that happening. I can't go one day without crying for missing her so much. I am grateful because she is not in any more pain but I am hurting so badly without her. I have a big sister but we have never been that close, she seems to want to spend more time with me now but nobody could ever feel that empty space inside my heart for my mother. I recently moved in with my brother and I want so desperately for me and my daughter to be able to get a place of our own. It costs so much to pay for first and last months rent and I have this old 1994 car that has been giving me so much trouble and I am barely scraping along , just trying to make it. I would appreciate any help I am given. If anyone can find it in their heart to help me and my daughter move out and get our own place or simply help us with the day to day necessities, it would be greatly appreciated.

I am 44 years old, originally from California, divorced in 2005, remarried in 2006, and in over my head. I worked in the mortgage industry for many years and got out when the market crashed. I had many credit problems because of my divorce and as a result could not get licensed with the new procedures to become a loan officer again. Well, some of these creditors, have been trying to attach my checking accounts and garnish my wages for the past 3 years and so, I've had to stay off the grid employment wise.
This has been ok, just very stressful, until now. Everything is coming to a head now and I can't hide from this any longer. With my wife, my 3 yr old son, and baby on the way, I don't even have health insurance anymore. I don't know what else to do. I need some help and like yesterday. My rent has not been paid since the 4/1 and phones will be shut off any day now.
Please help us!!! I love my family and I will never be able to forgive myself if we get evicted or I get thrown in jail. We won't even have money to eat in a few days!! I start a new job on Monday and I pray that I can get help before they garnish my wages.
God bless you and I pray that you can help us!!

GT

I'm a 33 year old mother of three boys. I grew up in an abusive home and proceeded on to an abusive marriage that lasted 13 years. From that marriage I have 2 sons, ages 13 and 11. My 13 year old was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age 9; my 11 year old has conduct disorder and has a tentative diagnosis of bipolar disorder. About 4 years ago, I finally had the courage to walk out of my abusive marriage and try to build a safe and normal life for my sons. Fast forward a year, and I found the love of my life and soulmate and remarried.I moved 5 hours away from my ex husband, thinking we would be safer. My ex husband remarried as well. Unfortunately, he married an attorney. Over the course of the last 3 years, we have been kept in court with custody battles and such, while my ex used his new wife's knowledge of the law to find every possible way to avoid paying child support. WE had to pay for an attorney, while his wife represented him for free. Not to mention, the court where we had to go for these cases was less than a mile from his home, while we had to travel 5 hours each way. My current husband and I have a son together now who is almost 2 years old. For 6 months of the last year my ex had finally been paying child support. My husband works to provide for us, while also having to support his son from a previous marriage. That's supporting 6 people on one income! So, having the child support really helped. (I am currently unemployed as we have no means of transportation and live in a rural area with no public transportation, and also have 2 children who are too old for daycare, yet cannot be left unattended due to their disorders.) We werent wealthy by any means, but we managed to make it from week to week and keep our bills paid. However, in October, my husband's employer went out of business with no notice. In the same week, my ex ceased making child support payments and the transmission went out in our vehicle. My husband, out of desperation, found a friend two towns away who would allow him to stay with him so my husband would be in an area with public transportation so he could look for work ( the friend has a one bedroom home that would not house us all, so the kids and I stayed here). All he has managed to find so far is a part time fast food job that barely covers his child support payments. This morning I was delivered the court eviction papers that will render my children and I homeless. If this happens, I have no doubt that my abusive ex will do everything he can to take my children away from me. At this point, I do not even have a way to get to the grocery store, let alone to another state to fight for custody of my children, and I certainly cannot afford legal representation. Our current situation is this: my husband and I must live in two different towns because of lack of transportation and income; I am stranded in the middle of nowhere with two special needs children and a toddler; we are on the verge of eviction with no place to go (neither my husband nor I have any family who can help); all of our utilities will be turned off within a week (no water or heat, we already do not have a phone); and my vindictive, abusive ex husband who does not even bother to financially support his children could potentially regain custody if we find ourselves homeless. I am living in a nightmare right now, and am at the end of my rope! I have no other place to turn and I am really praying that this option can help me find a light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. My h usband and I are both abuse survivors who have children with special needs. We are currently full time college students, studying psychology and social work (3.88 GPA's for both of us) because we have been through just about everything imaginable and want to use our past negative experiences to help others who are suffering or surviving and trying to cope. Our only goals in life are to give our children a decent life and help others who need it when we are able. All we need is a little help getting to the point where we are able.

Desperate can't describe how badly I need just a small helping hand! I have nowhere else to turn to. Life has really taken a toll on me and I am slowly sinking deeper into depression that I just can't shake.

At 21 I had my tubes tied after my ex pushed me into getting it done while I had postpartum depression. I have regretted it ever since. After the divorce I was left with no career and alot of worry. I am now happily remarried and he accepts my 2 kids as his own but I would love to have another kid with him to make our family complete. I'm currently going to school to try and get lvn, just got cna certified, but it's easier said than done trying to save up the money.

Any help to reach this goal would be exceptional. The surgery is $4,500. Travel expenses would probably be about $500 but anything to help with the costs is great.

Hi everyone, I am asking for you help with donations to help my family. My story is one that involves a split family. It starts in 2006 when my ex-wife took my two children away to another city with out my knowledge. Being in the military I was not able to up and relocate to be close to them. Taking on the debt load from the past relationship and marinating a home for myself and children was the start of my struggle. Thru many lawyers and court appointments I received 8 days a month visitation due to the 3.5 hrs distance between us.
3 years pass and I was remarried. Due to the unfortunate loss of my father we came into an inheritance, we were able to balance out our debt and for once we felt some relief. Still with only 8 days a month we yet again went back to court to try and obtain more access in the summer. As with all messy divorces my ex was unwilling to budge and wanted no more than 2 non-consecutive weeks in the summer for access. Luckily for us we were granted a full month each year.
With that good news came notice to us that we were to be posted to the same city my children lived. Once we were posted to the same city the military deemed that I was to deploy to Afghanistan, with this came a lot of training and travel to complete this all while my wife was pregnant with our son. As I know being in the military not everything will go as planed, I missed the birth of my son. Once my rotation was complete we were able to make new attempts to have more access to my children (in the original agreement between my ex-wife and myself we agreed to a set amount for child support).
Once my ex-wife found out about us wanting to have the children 50/50 she asked for an increase in child support and put my two boys into hockey to try and burden us financially. Needless to say hockey is very expensive and with the increase in child support (equivalent to another mortgage) we started to sink into debt again. My wife was unable to work due to child care costs of over $780/month, legal bills thru the roof and a vindictive ex-wife making all attempts to keep me from my children.
As if that wasn’t enough, my lawyer was suspended from practice, my wife’s and my 19 month old has now been diagnosed as possibly having celiac disease.
To sum it up, we are left with $200 per paycheque to buy groceries, gas for the car and anything else that may come up which in turn we needed to rely on our credit cards. Trying to get my children 50/50 is at a stand still now because no lawyer will take us on unless we have $2000 as a retainer, we don’t qualify for legal aid due to the fact that on paper I make too much.
So this is why I have turned to asking for help, to regain financial stability, gain access to my children and try and provide for my 3 boys and remove the stress from my wife. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We thank you for taking the time to read this.

I'm a stepfather in my mid 30's. I've worked all my adult life, never been on any kind of assistance program or welfare. But I've been dogging out from under a lot of debt for years that started with a nasty divorce. I've remarried and she's pregnant, which is odd since I was told once that I'd never be able have kids of my own. we both work, but we're always in debt. I don't want to be rich. I just want to have enough to finally break even.

I am a single mother of three children and I work very, very hard as a registered respiratory therapist. I have always given my last dime to anyone and I have a huge heart. My husband left us with no money, and a huge amount of debt. They have reposessed my car from my employment, forclosed on my house and now they are garnishing my wages. I have been working two jobs, gotten a used car, 2 bedroom apartment for my kids, yay. It is an accomplishment, but I still can't even put food on the table. Their dad has left the state and remarried, left us for good. I have tried United Way, Catholic charities, churches and I am out of ideas. No luck. DHS and my children's school said I make too much money to get reduced lunches or food stamps. I am desperate to put food on my table and sleep with heat. I am at my breaking point. I live in Tennessee and have very little family here and they are not able to help themselves. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and God bless.

Hello, my name is Sarah O'Brien. Four years ago my mother was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told us there was nothing they could do. She came home and suffered. Myself and my daughter lived with her and my father. She was my daughters best friend. We watched her suffer and die. It tore my family apart. We used to be so close but she was our glue. My father moved to Kentucky and remarried. My sisters and I barely speak and my little brother who also lived with them lives in a motel room now. I couldn't bare to see the house be sold so I purchased it. My daughter is so proud to tell people that she was born in this house. I worked for TD Bank for 11 years. I was a hard working and dedicated employee. Six years later a new manager arrived named Liz. She was an abusive maniac. Harassed and belittled everyone any chance she got. I couldn't take it anymore after 5 years of this. I was suffering severe anxiety and it was affecting my health. I went out on sick leave and have been struggling ever since. She is still there after several complaints and I am now losing my mothers house which I wanted so much to save. This house is all that we have left of her and all my childhood memories are in this house. Please if anyone has it in their heart to help I would forever be grateful. Thank you so much in advance! If you can help please email me at sarahobrien4602@comcast.net Thank you, Sarah

My name is Mike, I am a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and after coming home, I was diagnosed with PTSD. As is typical with PTSD, I did not seek immidiate treatment for the condition, I was going through a divorce, losing everything, and I was unemployed. I started using alot of drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self medicate and I ended up homeless, addicted and in alot of legal trouble. I have since, remarried,my wife and I have 3 children (2 years, 1 year, and new born) and our 1 year old was born 3 months pre mature and has cerebral palsey as well as several other serious medical conditions. I have over 2 years clean and sober now, and I have not had any new criminal charges in 3 years, i recently turned myself in on the last warrant i had and served my jail time and I no longer have any pending legal charges. My problem is this, due to the warrants I had, my drivers license was suspended in 2008 and now that all charges are resolved, I can not afford my re-instatement fee. I am current on the pay plan for all fines and court costs, but with our limited income, our sons medical issues, and my fine payments, on top of regular living expenses (rent, utilities, diapers, food, etc) there is no way I can pay my reinstatement fee's or get a drivers license. I will worry about getting a car later, but I had a CDL before it was suspended and if I can get it back, I know I will be able to increase our income and achieve self sufficiency. If you can help, please consider doing so, it will not be unappreciated!

My name is Mike, I am a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and after coming home, I was diagnosed with PTSD. As is typical with PTSD, I did not seek immidiate treatment for the condition, I was going through a divorce, losing everything, and I was unemployed. I started using alot of drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self medicate and I ended up homeless, addicted and in alot of legal trouble. I have since, remarried,my wife and I have 3 children (2 years, 1 year, and new born) and our 1 year old was born 3 months pre mature and has cerebral palsey as well as several other serious medical conditions. I have over 2 years clean and sober now, and I have not had any new criminal charges in 3 years, i recently turned myself in on the last warrant i had and served my jail time and I no longer have any pending legal charges. My problem is this, due to the warrants I had, my drivers license was suspended in 2008 and now that all charges are resolved, I can not afford my re-instatement fee. I am current on the pay plan for all fines and court costs, but with our limited income, our sons medical issues, and my fine payments, on top of regular living expenses (rent, utilities, diapers, food, etc) there is no way I can pay my reinstatement fee's or get a drivers license. I will worry about getting a car later, but I had a CDL before it was suspended and if I can get it back, I know I will be able to increase our income and achieve self sufficiency. If you can help, please consider doing so, it will not go unappreciated!

My name is Mike, I am a combat veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and after coming home, I was diagnosed with PTSD. As is typical with PTSD, I did not seek immidiate treatment for the condition, I was going through a divorce, losing everything, and I was unemployed. I started using alot of drugs and alcohol in an attempt to self medicate and I ended up homeless, addicted and in alot of legal trouble. I have since, remarried,my wife and I have 3 children (2 years, 1 year, and new born) and our 1 year old was born 3 months pre mature and has cerebral palsey as well as several other serious medical conditions. I have over 2 years clean and sober now, and I have not had any new criminal charges in 3 years, i recently turned myself in on the last warrant i had and served my jail time and I no longer have any pending legal charges. My problem is this, due to the warrants I had, my drivers license was suspended in 2008 and now that all charges are resolved, I can not afford my re-instatement fee. I am current on the pay plan for all fines and court costs, but with our limited income, our sons medical issues, and my fine payments, on top of regular living expenses (rent, utilities, diapers, food, etc) there is no way I can pay my reinstatement fee's or get a drivers license. I will worry about getting a car later, but I had a CDL before it was suspended and if I can get it back, I know I will be able to increase our income and achieve self sufficiency. If you can help, please consider doing so, it will not be unappreciated!

I'm the mom of an amazing 11 yr old son. My ex husband of 13 yrs left me after I had a botched spine surgery. It left me with a chronic pain disease in both legs, and unable to work. My ex remarried illegally immediately after our divorce last year. He filed a motion to terminate support. He bought his new wife a new sports car this month, and has gone on 6 vacations I've been able to document in 6 months. While my attorney says I will win my case and he will most likely have child support increased, I do not have the 3500$ retainer I need. I lost my home when my ex was ordered to pay my mortgage during divorce and didn't, so I have nothing to loan against. I'm desperate. My supports the only way I have to care for my son that I have physical custody of. I struggle to make ends meet every month as it is. I'm also in need of surgery that I can not pay the Medicare co pay on.

Any help and prayers are appreciated.

Email me at smigrp@aol.com and my paypal is also registered at that email address.

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A STRONG WOMEN RAISED 2 CHILDREN IN MY FIRST MARRIAGE, REMARRIED, AND AT AGE 38 DECIDED TO HAVE A BABY, THOUGHT THE MARRIAGE WAS GOING TO LAST. THE LACK OF WORK ON MY HUSBAND SIDE AND MY INABILITY TO FIND A JOB HAS LEFT ME BANKRUPTED, SICK, AND HOPELESSLY BROKE. I NOW LIVE WITH IN MY PARENTS 1 BEDROOM APARTMENT WITH MY BABY OF 4, I CLEAN HOUSES ONCE IN A WHILE, TAKE MY PARENTS TO DOCTORS VISITS, COOK FOR THEM TO HELP OUT AND GIVE THEM EVERY MONIES I GET TO HELP PAY FOR TIME I LIVE THERE. BUT I DESPERATELY NEED TO GET A PLACE OF MY OWN, AND TRY TO GET BACK ON MY FEET AGAIN. GOD HAS NEVER LEFT MY SIDE AND THAT IS HOW I AM ABLE TO GET BY DAY BY DAY. PLEASE HELP IF YOU CAN.

I would like to tell you a story that relates to why I am asking for help.
My father was a Vietnam vet who proudly enlisted into the army to serve his country. After willingly serving two tours of duty, he came home and married my mother (his high school sweetheart) and started a family consisting of me and my two older sisters.
When I was four, my father began experiencing difficulties with his legs and feet. After many unsuccessful operations, it was determined that he was losing the bone density in his legs and he was put in a wheelchair.
My father was an amazing man; he never let his being in a wheelchair keep him down. He climbed Pike's Peak twice and Mount Evans once in his wheelchair, one of his climbs was filmed by a local TV show in Colorado called P.M. Magazine. We have the video footage on beta and are trying to find a way to convert it to DVD. I would love to share his story with anyone wanting to watch it. It shows what a courageous man he was. It was a heartbreaking climb over rough terrain and sometimes he had to strap his wheelchair to his ankles and drag it while he scooted up steep inclines on his backside. It never deterred him. He had more strength and determination than any man I have ever met in my life. He also ran marathons in his wheelchair and spoke to other handicapped and disabled individuals to help them realize that although someone may be hindered, it just means that they learn to function differently. "I may be in a wheelchair, but the wheelchair isn't in me," he used to say.
In 1987, when I was 12, the harsh weather conditions of Colorado became unbearable for my father and we moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
My father was never granted disability in Colorado or New Mexico and while he fought for 30 years for his pension from the Army, he never received that either (the common story of we can't seem to find your files even though my father repeatedly submitted his paperwork to show his contribution to our country). As a result, my mother found herself working 2 full time jobs just to support us and we still barely made ends meet.
We grew up poor our entire lives, but we understood what it was like to be rich in other ways. Our family was close and we knew that, no matter how rough things could be at times, that we really did have each other. My sisters and I grew very close over the time when we had no electricity and only had each other to listen to because we didn't have the power for television and radio. We are still very close to this day. I will never regret how we grew up, even with the struggles, because it was the foundation of who we are today. We all learned how to be kind and unselfish and value each other. Both my sisters and I all have our own children and work hard to instill the same values in them.
In 2000, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of being subjected to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. The tumors were visible in both lungs and nothing could be done. He passed away one week after the diagnosis. We had no time to prepare and certainly no time to say goodbye.

My mother now lives in PA in a cute little Amish town. She has since remarried a wonderful man named Jack. He is also a Vietnam veteran.

My sisters and I still live in New Mexico with our families, although my heart is definitely on the east coast with my mother.
A short time after my mother moved to PA, she got a
job as a nurse. She loved helping other people as she had done all her life. Unfortunately, she suffered a fall that left her with permanent neck and spinal injuries. After going through her own numerous surgeries, she was unable to continue the work that she loved so much. The tables have turned from when we were growing up where she was the only source of income and Jack has been the sole provider for the last several years.
Recently, Jack began to feel very ill and it looks like the effects of Agent Orange have done their damage once again. He is suffering from skin cancer and stage 4 prostate cancer and after going through a series of tests, the probability of also having lymphoma is very high. My mother is going through the same horror once again and while my sisters and I are grown, losing a father to Agent Orange for the second time isn't easy on the heart.
A few years ago, my mother lost both parents and her only sibling, a brother, in the span of four months. She has nobody and I can't bear to leave her alone while she suffers physically and emotionally.
Unfortunately, I lost my job a couple months ago due to layoffs and have had extreme difficulty finding another source of income. Las Cruces is a small city with very limited opportunity. While I worked in the same profession for the past 11 years, I have applied for any and every type of job I could find.
We are struggling to find a way to move close to my mother so that I can take care of her and so she won't be alone if she loses Jack. My sisters and I are the only family she has left and I want nothing more than to be there for her.

I am hoping to find a job there very quickly and I would also love to attend schooling and get my degree in forensics. It has been a dream of mine to be able to assist in solving crime related cases. I firmly believe that I can accomplish my career goals and help my mother if I were in a state with far more job opportunities.
We have never been comfortable financially and my 2 teenage boys understand what it is like to do without the things they want in exchange for just the things they need, much like my sisters and I when we were growing up. I have always wanted more for my kids than to see them grow up here in a high poverty state. I believe the job opportunities and schooling for them will be equally beneficial. They both already have career minded goals that will take them farther in a bigger state.

It has been 4 years since I've seen my mother as neither of us can afford the expense of a trip.

All I am requesting is enough assistance to be able to move my family closer to my mother and locate a house to rent while I search for a job. I am only asking for short term support as I know that I am capable of supporting my own family and I am certain that I will be able to find gainful employment in a short time.

I would like to tell you a story that relates to why I am asking for help.
My father was a Vietnam vet who proudly enlisted into the army to serve his country. After willingly serving two tours of duty, he came home and married my mother (his high school sweetheart) and started a family consisting of me and my two older sisters.
When I was four, my father began experiencing difficulties with his legs and feet. After many unsuccessful operations, it was determined that he was losing the bone density in his legs and he was put in a wheelchair.
My father was an amazing man; he never let his being in a wheelchair keep him down. He climbed Pike's Peak twice and Mount Evans once in his wheelchair, one of his climbs was filmed by a local TV show in Colorado called P.M. Magazine. We have the video footage on beta and are trying to find a way to convert it to DVD. I would love to share his story with anyone wanting to watch it. It shows what a courageous man he was. It was a heartbreaking climb over rough terrain and sometimes he had to strap his wheelchair to his ankles and drag it while he scooted up steep inclines on his backside. It never deterred him. He had more strength and determination than any man I have ever met in my life. He also ran marathons in his wheelchair and spoke to other handicapped and disabled individuals to help them realize that although someone may be hindered, it just means that they learn to function differently. "I may be in a wheelchair, but the wheelchair isn't in me," he used to say.
In 1987, when I was 12, the harsh weather conditions of Colorado became unbearable for my father and we moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
My father was never granted disability in Colorado or New Mexico and while he fought for 30 years for his pension from the Army, he never received that either (the common story of we can't seem to find your files even though my father repeatedly submitted his paperwork to show his contribution to our country). As a result, my mother found herself working 2 full time jobs just to support us and we still barely made ends meet.
We grew up poor our entire lives, but we understood what it was like to be rich in other ways. Our family was close and we knew that, no matter how rough things could be at times, that we really did have each other. My sisters and I grew very close over the time when we had no electricity and only had each other to listen to because we didn't have the power for television and radio. We are still very close to this day. I will never regret how we grew up, even with the struggles, because it was the foundation of who we are today. We all learned how to be kind and unselfish and value each other. Both my sisters and I all have our own children and work hard to instill the same values in them.
In 2000, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer as a result of being subjected to Agent Orange while in Vietnam. The tumors were visible in both lungs and nothing could be done. He passed away one week after the diagnosis. We had no time to prepare and certainly no time to say goodbye.

My mother now lives in PA in a cute little Amish town. She has since remarried a wonderful man named Jack. He is also a Vietnam veteran.

My sisters and I still live in New Mexico with our families, although my heart is definitely on the east coast with my mother.
A short time after my mother moved to PA, she got a
job as a nurse. She loved helping other people as she had done all her life. Unfortunately, she suffered a fall that left her with permanent neck and spinal injuries. After going through her own numerous surgeries, she was unable to continue the work that she loved so much. The tables have turned from when we were growing up where she was the only source of income and Jack has been the sole provider for the last several years.
Recently, Jack began to feel very ill and it looks like the effects of Agent Orange have done their damage once again. He is suffering from skin cancer and stage 4 prostate cancer and after going through a series of tests, the probability of also having lymphoma is very high. My mother is going through the same horror once again and while my sisters and I are grown, losing a father to Agent Orange for the second time isn't easy on the heart.
A few years ago, my mother lost both parents and her only sibling, a brother, in the span of four months. She has nobody and I can't bear to leave her alone while she suffers physically and emotionally.
Unfortunately, I lost my job a couple months ago due to layoffs and have had extreme difficulty finding another source of income. Las Cruces is a small city with very limited opportunity. While I worked in the same profession for the past 11 years, I have applied for any and every type of job I could find.
We are struggling to find a way to move close to my mother so that I can take care of her and so she won't be alone if she loses Jack. My sisters and I are the only family she has left and I want nothing more than to be there for her.

I am hoping to find a job there very quickly and I would also love to attend schooling and get my degree in forensics. It has been a dream of mine to be able to assist in solving crime related cases. I firmly believe that I can accomplish my career goals and help my mother if I were in a state with far more job opportunities.
We have never been comfortable financially and my 2 teenage boys understand what it is like to do without the things they want in exchange for just the things they need, much like my sisters and I when we were growing up. I have always wanted more for my kids than to see them grow up here in a high poverty state. I believe the job opportunities and schooling for them will be equally beneficial. They both already have career minded goals that will take them farther in a bigger state.

It has been 4 years since I've seen my mother as neither of us can afford the expense of a trip.

All I am requesting is enough assistance to be able to move my family closer to my mother and locate a house to rent while I search for a job. I am only asking for short term support as I know that I am capable of supporting my own family and I am certain that I will be able to find gainful employment in a short time.

i got remarried after an abusive 9 yr marriage. in that 9 yrs i had my tubes tied. i now have a great husband & we want a child. the surgery is costly & insurance won't pay for it. please help me see my dream come true

Hello. My name is Allison. I'm 44.
My father was a schizophrenic my mother was a 1950's mom.
This was back in the early 1970's when people didn't know much about schizophrenia. The drugs made my dad really sick and he didn't want to take them. My mother, being from her generation, was ill prepared to deal with this kind of situation.
When I was 8 we moved to Woodstock, NY on my father's whim. Dad wouldn't work, so my Mom has to. I also have an older brother, Mitchell, who definitely picked up the mentally ill gene at an early age. After a time my Dad became really violent. He asked us all the time if we were afraid of him, but we were all too frightened to tell him "yes". my brother moved into a boy's shelter in town. He was 13 at the time. My brother got into lot's of fights. The night after the first time my father hit her, my Mom moved into a close-by seedy apartment to keep an eye on us kids, but my Dad wouldn't let her near us.
I was Daddy's princess which for some reason still makes me happy to this day. Being alone with him was a psychodelic nightmare. My Father told me that I was the Messiah(we're Jewish) returned to bring peace to the world. My Father said we would find the garden of Eden. I saw a lot of things that I'm sure couldn't possibly exist, but still think they were real.
It's difficult to explain what it's like to live with a schizophrenic. The person can be quite docile and then, on the drop of a dime, become a hideously violent person.
My father never physically hurt me, like he did my brother and my Mom. Nor did he ever molest me. my Dad did make me live in his mind like a cult makes you part of the group mind.
Eventually my Mother kidnapped me during the middle of the day from my elemenatarly school. She had got a legal separation from my Dad. He saw her car parked at a motel that night and kicked the door down. He asked me if I wanted to go with him or stay with her. I was 9 at the time, it seemed that the right thing to do was to go with my Mom, and my Dad agreed to let me go.
My Dad had visitation rights every weekend. He didn't show up the first weekend. We waited and waited.
The next weekend I slept in, not expecting him. Then, of course, he arrived. I knew it was going to be a bad deal.
The first thing my Dad did was try and kill me. He kept saying over and over, "why don't you love me!? why don't you love me!?" He was driving so fast and i was too small to see over the dash. He said, "if you don't love me I'm going to hit that tree and kill both of us!" I knew he meant it. We were going very fast but I got the car door opened and was going to jump it. He pulled the car door closed. I screamed, "Okay, I love you, I love you, I love you." and he slowed the car down.
We went to go have something to eat at some diner. We got back in the car and I promptly fell asleep and woke up in VIRGINIA.
Dad enrolled me in public school. I told the principle what was happening. The principle called my mother and she came with her father. The law at the time was if the kid was with you in a state, that kid was yours. But my Dad again did give me the choice to stay with him or go with my mother, and I chose my Mother.
At some point we moved down to Florida. My Dad was taking his meds so my Mom allowed him to follow us. Things went bad quickly and Mom called him from my Grandma's house around the street and told him to leave. When it was my turn to talk to him he asked me if I wanted him to leave to and I said "yes". He cursed me and said that he wished the same thing that happened to him would happen to me, and I'm not altogether sure it hasn't.
I've never really known how to relate to other people except tp people that are a lot like me. I'm being treated as bi-polar, but I have Boderline-Personality-Disorder and Post-Traumatic-Syndrome. I've taken classes that have helped me deall with sciety better. But the meds don't work so well. I have panic attacks being around people and hearing loud noises, which is at most jobs. I have trouble sleeping.
That was the last time I ever spoke to my Dad. He committed suicide a week later. My brother lives on the streets in Miami. And my Mom remarried somebody that is the exact opposite of my Dad.

Nine years ago I was discharged from the military and rated disabled. Mental health issues contributed to bizarre behavior that earned "MISCONDUCT" declinations. Few employers will hire when that designation is made on a soldiers discharge papers.

My then wife announced an affair at roughly the same time. She intercepted and withdrew every cent of my final pay and caused the repossession of a brand new Kia Optima... with interest... Over ten thousand dollars and erasing any progress toward paying off the vehicle. Periodically the debt is sold from company to company. Harassment and threats and legal notices continue to this day. Interest accrues without limit.

As 30% disabled I receive roughly one-third of my bass pay every month for the rest of my days... Sounds good right? What if I told you that came to 421 dollars a month. Social Security will not recognize the disability even with sensitive, very private documents from health professionals. That's fine. I don't want a free ride, but I can't support myself right now. Although I have remarried our joint income can't touch my past mistakes and transgressions.

I'm physically capable of working. I'm looking hard for work and the VA is helping with some schooling as well as job-fairs, interviews and introductions. But I've been hardly able to make a dent in the amount without steady employment.

If you would like to check out the original debt-holder, use any search engine to find SNCAA. Any help at all will ease the anxiety my heart's been packed in for the last several years. I'm serious: If you would like to donate even just a penny, at least to say you've had it hard too or that "you would if you could". In the end I think just knowing someone cared enough to gesture may be just as bolstering.

I've had a rough life from the beginning! I was an unwanted child of teen parents, so I got passed around a lot. I had traumatic childhood, being subject and witness to my mother's drunken escapades and those of her boyfriends. I've been on my own since I was 16, with no family help. Determined to graduate High School, I got a job and rented a room, then graduated nine months pregnant. I had my second child at 20, so I married their father. He shortly thereafter started cheating on me and became abusive. After watching my mother being abused as a child, I vowed to myself that I would never tolerate it, so I left him. He then stalked me and broke into my apartment and strangled me. I had a near death experience, but was lucky enough to come back to care for my children. By the time I was 26, I doubled my family, because I had twins. I thought their father was my soul mate, but low and behold, he cheated on me and then became abusive too. Originally, I took all four children with me and stayed in one room, but it was so tough on my twins, as they were only 3 and weren't allowed to play where we lived. Since their father stayed in the house we were buying, he talked me into letting them stay with him, but it was only supposed to be temporary. Truly, he didn't want to pay child support. He said since I had two children with me and he had two with him, nobody would have to worry about child support. What a joke! He ended up collecting welfare, so the DCSE started collecting child support from me, even after he got married. Here I am single mother, struggling to make ends meet, while he's married and getting child support from me. To make matters worse, my daughters' father didn't pay anything. He’s also remarried. I tried to take him to court, but can't do it, because it brings back PTSD from when he stalked strangled me. One year, my income was $300 too much to get the earned income tax credit, so now I owe IRS $2000. To top it off, I had been struggling at work, due to a neurological disorder and got laid off for a while. After several months, I found another job, but then suffered a closed-head injury and got laid off. I've been unemployed for 4 years now. The child support added up, so now I owe A LOT (like $10,000)! I applied for disability, but they denied me, so I've been trying to do work for myself, but just trying to pay bills to live and care for my daughters has taken all my money, so I've not been able to get the other stuff paid off. Due to my neurological disorder, I can't work in an office environment, as it makes me very ill and I can't function. I'm currently trying to build a marketing and design business, as well as a ministry for the homeless and battered women, but I really need help getting these bills paid down. I'm starting from scratch with my design biz, as my hard drive died and I lost all of my work. I am a very creative woman, with writing, painting, graphic design, marketing and more, and know once I get things off the ground I will really do well. I need assistance getting some of these bills paid down, so I can live my aspirations. I really want my daughters to go to college, but can't support them. I wish to get caught up, so I can be more supportive of my daughters than my family was of me (their support to me was nil!).

Hi! I am 37 years old and am wanting to have a tubal reversal surgery done. I have one son who is 13 and has Autism. I was in a bad relationship when my son was born and was able to leave that relationship behind when he was just 1. I have finally remarried and would love the chance to have another child. I have a reversal doctor picked out and am working towards saving the money to have the surgery.

I am a full-time student working on my Bachelor in Criminal Justice. I hope to go onto law school next year to get my JD degree after which I would like to get a job working as a prosecuting attorney to help other women who are affected by domestic violence.

I never dreamed for one minute that I would want another child, however, my hearts desire has changed.

Any help would be appreciated. I would gladly pay back any donors who would be willing to help as long as your willing to send me the info so that I can pay you back. It won't be a lot of money at one time but I certainly do not want a free ride...