Antonia's Family

 Over this past year, I have had the absolute privilege of getting to know and become friends with one of the sweetest, most dedicated, and humble young women I've ever known.  Throughout the course of our friendship, I have watched as hardship and tragedy have continuously invaded Antonia Adams' life and yet she has always fought to remain positive and keep a smile on her face.  My heart is broken now as I have received a recent update on her family's situation and what they are going through.  Although Antonia is too humble to ask for any help for herself, I was given permission to share her story, and so I would like to raise awareness for her family's desperate situation and to ask for your help in providing for their financial needs.Here is an exerpt from her update letter to me..."When I began my fall semester of college, I dislocated my kneecap. My parents quickly took me to the emergency room.  We thought that was the end of it. However, my back began to hurt and I had to see an orthopedic specialist in Virginia. I learned through further testing that I had extra cartilage growth on my knee and a pinched nerve in my back (from scoliosis). I was given a wheelchair for a while and twelve weeks of therapy. To this day, I continue to struggle with knee pain upon excessive walking.

When I came home for Thanksgiving, I saw an emaciated mother who had trouble walking (they had finally diagnosed her with stage four colon cancer) and a grieving father with a gash on the side of his head. (My father had fallen in the backyard and suffered from a severe head injury.) Yet, they wanted me to come back and finish the semester. God gave me the strength to do just that.

God blessed me to spend Christmas and New Year’s with my parents before my immediate home life fell apart.  I returned to school in January to try to get back to normal life.  However, things went from bad to worse.  One day, I called my mother to see how she was doing and she could barely speak.  I later learned that she had passed out due to dehydration and the advanced cancer.  (Daddy came home to find her on the floor.)  When she went to the hospital, she was admitted into the ICU.  During her stay, she struggled with temporarily failed kidneys and they removed her from the chemotherapy.  The treatments were too strong for her frail body.  The oncologist said to, “let life take its course.”  At this point, I was home to check up on her and help her go into Hospice.  I was very blessed to have one final full week with my mother and temporarily serve as her caretaker.  (She needed someone to bathe her, dress her, use the restroom, and help with day to day activities.)  She told me, “Go back.  This is my sick world.  You belong in the academic world.”  Upon these words, I returned to school.  However, one week later, Mama took a sharp turn for death.  She was given a blood transfusion and was still in severe pain.  I was told by her Hospice nurse to come home and say goodbye.  Twenty-four hours after I arrived home, Mama became unconscious and died a few days later.  My best friend and mother went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The day after Mama's funeral, I took Daddy to the hospital due to loose, bloody stool.  He was admitted and remained in the hospital for a while.  After some scoping, the doctors found polyps in his colon and small intestine.  They scheduled a surgery to resection his colon and check for potential cancer.  

On the day of the surgery, my family and I came around him. However, we noticed that he had become very weak and frail.  The doctor looked at him and saw that he was too weak for the surgery. He will continue to see medical professionals until he gets stronger.

I later came home to find a strong smell in the home. With dread, I realized that more problems were taking place in the house. We just discovered that there is mold (thankfully, not the toxic kind) under the home, along with water and structural damage that needs to be repaired.
Due to my father's sickness, he is not able to go to work and make money anymore. That being the case, we still have mortgage, car, insurance, phone, light, gas, food, medical, and home repair payments to make."

Please consider helping my friend Antonia and her family! Since this email was sent to me, she has told me that she will not be able to cover all of the expenses, and on top of that, her house was just found to have a major mold and structural problem that will cost thousands to clean and fix. As it is, she is barely scraping by with enough money.


Let's rally around Antonia and her family to show them how much we love them and want to support them during this incredibly hard time in their lives.  


Sincerely, 
A loving friend of Antonia's.