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Breast Cancer Recovery Amidst Construction Woes
0% complete
$6,153 raised of $100K
51 donations
Hello,
My name is Jeannene. I am a science teacher in Vista, CA , a mother of 2, a daughter, a sister and most recently a grandmother. Our family has always been able to take care of ourselves. My husband is a retired Marine. We have insurance, retirement, and my monthly paycheck. This past year has been a perfect storm. One daughter got married, the other had a child. Both of which we rejoiced in. However, the new family lost their housing and came to live with us. We took out a construction loan and moved into our motorhome so we could expand the house to fit 3 generations. In the midst of this, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, after numerous complications and delays in both the construction of the house and the treatment and reconstruction for my cancer, we have exhausted all of our funds and credit and I’m about to be put on unpaid leave. We stand to lose everything except hopefully each other. We desperately need help to stay in our house, keep our family afloat and pay for my recovery.
Timeline:
- 2021 Oldest daughter gets engaged
- April 2022 Youngest daughter announces pregnancy
- August 2022 Youngest daughter’s rental house ceases to be a rental and they must move
- August 2022 Hired contractors to add an upstairs addition to the house to accommodate growing family - the build was supposed to be complete in November
- August 2022 Breast Cancer Diagnosis
- October 2022 Wedding and Birth - one day apart! Whee!!
- October 2022 Contractors inform that they need more space in the house to work, so we borrow a motorhome and move in (2 of us in the motorhome, the other 3 in what’s left of the house).
- October 31st - doctors inform me that I must have surgery in February
- November 2022 - the build isn’t complete - surprise! “Probably before Christmas” - meanwhile the roof is leaking, the contractors asked for more money
- Christmas 2022 - the build still isn’t complete. The roof is still leaking.
- January 2023 - Contractors asked for yet more money and said it might not be done until March. Roof still leaking
- February 2023 - Surgery and 6 weeks of recovery - on leave from work
- March 2023 - No progress on the house, roof still leaking, contractors left roof and new windows open to the elements
- April 2023 - decisions about chemo and radiation, still no progress on house
- May 2023 - I started having adverse reactions to the medications and was in and out of the ER.
- June 2023 - Contractors still asking for more money and we are tapped out. The house is unfinished, the roof and windows still leak.
- July 2023 - 1st of 3 reconstruction surgeries
- August 2023 - my daughter, my husband, my son-in-laws, my son-in-law’s father all climbed up on the roof and attempted to fix what was left undone and prevent Hilary from causing more havoc. It was partially successful, but water still got in.
- September 2023 - I received notice from my district that if I don’t return to my classroom by October 31st, I will no longer be paid. I still have 2 more surgeries to go and multiple doctors appointments every week. I still have issues with movement in my neck and arm to recover from. I’ve considered going back, but I could only be there part time and only for 3 weeks until I’m out again for another surgery. This process won’t be complete until next Spring.
So here we are. We have taken out construction loans, personal loans, and business loans to pay the contractors. Our savings is gone. We’ve taken money out of our life insurance. We’ve maxed out our credit cards and are in credit recovery. We’ve already paid $257,000 for a project that was supposed to cost $150,000. It will take at least another $50,000 to complete what was started. Meanwhile, my paycheck is going away and we need to eat and pay the mortgage and all these loans.
We have given ourselves to our family and our community for our entire lives and we realize that everyone has hard times, but we hope that if you are in a more comfortable position than us at this time, you would consider helping us to get back on our feet so we can continue living in and serving the community we love.
Organizer
