A Christmas Need

Times are hard for all of us. Growing up poor and at times homeless my mom would remind us that some people had it worse. As a teen even though we struggled my mom never showed it. She would always fight to give us what we needed and at times what we wanted. She even pushed herself through community college to receive three degrees and at both commencements she was at the top of her class. 

Life caught up to my mom though. Working a manual labor job most of her life to support her three kids took a toll on her body. 2020 has been a hard year for all of us. Personally, I have watched it be one of the worst for my mom. 

At the beginning of the year she came in from having a back surgery. Able to get back to work while still in excruciating pain for only a month or two she was forced to stay home because of covid. At the beginning of summer she learned she had a painful disease. In short, her joints make to much of its lubricant and the body absorbs it which is extremely painful. There is no cure and the medicine to help manage the symptoms can cause the joint to not make lubricant at all. Then in the middle of summer she fractured her foot which has caused her to be off again. Only to learn that one of her hips was practically gone and she needed a hip replacement. 

Here we are going into the holidays and my mom now has no job, no car, loosing her home, no food, cannot afford to go to the doctors, and above all trying to keep her head above water. She has learned that the fracture in her foot along with otherfoot issues will cause her to always be in pain so working again is looking slim. 

I know my mom and asking for help is hard. Seeing herself like this is harder. She is so proud to see her children do so well but I speak, at least for myself, it’s hard to see our hard working mother end up like this. 

I ask for any amount of money even 50 cents to help out. We at least need to get the essentials as she works with the government and her long term disability to get any kind of payment as she has not been paid in three weeks. 

Thank you so much and have a safe and healthy holiday.