My story:

My name is Christy Clements and I am writing with a heavy heart to ask for your kind support for me to have the opportunity to spend as much time as possible with my dad right now.

For those who don’t know him, my dad, Don has always been the rock of my family. He worked round the clock his entire life with his time split between the Navy and his daily job at DuPont. He would then come home and take care of us. He spent his entire life thinking of and doing for others and when he finally reached the age of retirement when he could begin to really start enjoying his life, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s shortly after. He has since been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s as well and the combination of symptoms between the two diseases has been devastating.

Recently, his disease has furiously progressed in a matter of days and his decline has been severe. Within just the past few days, he has struggled to recognize people, he cannot walk even to the bathroom without assistance from 2 other people and a walker, he can no longer feed himself and has even been choking on water as his body is beginning to forget even those simple tasks.

My dad has a DNR in place but more important and specific to his current decline, his wishes were never to have a feeding tube or any other accommodations that his body would have to be reliant on in order to live. For those reasons, we are now focused on making him comfortable and spending as much time together as possible. This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to go through in my life, watching my dad, the strong, funny, loving man who raised me turn into such a fragile shell of himself. My heart is broken. Asking for help is also such a hard thing for me to do but my biggest fear is getting the call that my dad is gone and I will have missed time with him that I won’t ever get back.

My financial challenge:

I am a single mom of 3 boys who lives paycheck to paycheck. I don’t receive bereavement time and I also don’t have anymore paid time off of work as my 5 annual days were used as sick days for my boys earlier in the year. In order to take care of living expenses, I have to not only work my 40 hours weekly, but an additional 20-30 hours in overtime. I have been unable work most of my overtime hours and have also needed some days off during my regular work week since everything started a few weeks ago.

I appreciate all of the support everyone has provided so far that allowed me to spend as much time as possible with my dad included being there on the day he passed—please see the updates regarding his passing. 

At this time, I’m still needing some support to take some days off from work to go visit family, to process, to grieve and to attend professional grief counseling as I was completely unprepared for the devastation that follows a loss of this magnitude.

How your donation and generosity will help…

Gas costs: My family lives about an hour from me and your donations will help with the gas costs in traveling back and forth.

Food: Unfortunately, with all of the traveling, most of the food for me and my boys has been purchased on the go, which is more expensive than if I were home more regularly right now to make meals.

Living expenses: I will be able to use the funds for rent, bills, groceries and other living expenses for me and my boys if I am able to take some time off of work when necessary. I don’t know how to explain the weight of this grief but it is everything I have to find the energy and to hold myself together for even the simplest of tasks right now.

Grief Counseling: 

Your donations will also help to allow me to start professional grief counseling.

**You can find additional information regarding my journey in the updates. This includes my father’s unfortunate passing and the crushing grief as a result and how this fundraiser transformed from being assistance for me to be able to spend as much time with him before his passing to bereavement support**

Thank you so much for your time in reading a little about mine and my dad’s story. If you are able to help financially, I would be so incredibly grateful. If you are not in a position to donate, if you could please share this campaign—that will also be incredibly helpful. Every donation, no matter the size, will make a profound difference. Your thoughts, prayers, and positive energy are also tremendously appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration,

Christy