I am writing this story on behalf of our parents, Don and Grace Mixon.  Also known as Dad and Mom or Pa and Ma to so many who love them with all their hearts. Dad and mom are a true love story. They celebrated their 55thwedding anniversary this past January.  They do not know life without each other.   Dad calls mom his princess, “Princess Grace”.  When you see them look at each other, you can see and feel the love between them.   Mom has had a rough medical history.  She has suffered heart problems since she was a young girl.  In our lives we have been by her side through breast cancer, thyroid surgery and 2 open heart surgeries.   This past year has been hard on everyone, but for our mom, Grace, it has been life changing.   Back on April 17, 2020 she woke up her old-self; had breakfast with dad and spent the day in their mother-in-law apartment at Ellen’s.  She walked down the stairs for dinner; all seemed good.  They sat down for dinner and life changed as we knew it.  Mom suffered a massive stroke that night at the dinner table. She spent the next 4 weeks in the hospital. Mom was paralyzed on the left side, blind out of her left eye and had a feeding tube directly into her stomach.   While in the hospital, she suffered from delirium; which was caused from being whisked away from what she knew, to being alone in a hospital that did not allow family to visit due to Covid.  Which also meant we would bring her home to take care of her.   Mom had many months of struggling with her deficits.  With God’s strength, she gained movement in her left leg and was progressing well.  We were able to move her back upstairs with dad, where they could share some kind of normalcy together.  On December 25, 2020, mom fell and broke her hip.  Another trip in the ambulance, surgery, and 2 more weeks in the hospital. Again, suffering from delirium and struggling to make it home once more.   Not 2 weeks later, she suffered from a severe seizure, which meant another trip in the ambulance and nearing another week in the hospital.  Mom is home now, but needs 24-hour care.  We stagger our life and work schedules to have one of us with her at all times.  Mom and Dad are not wealthy people, nor are we.  We have had to hire in-home care to fill in the time gaps; but money is running low.  We have reached a point of needing to ask for help.  Mom is now swimming in hospital bills.  She has multiple specialists she must see.  She has in home nursing and PT.  The insurance pays a small portion, but will never cover all the help she needs and will need in the future.   Our hopes as her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are to keep her at home with the love of her life as long as possible.  God has a plan for mom, for us all.  God has spared mom so many times in her life.  There is a reason he wants her here with us all.   Grace, Princess, Mom, Ma has done so much for us and it is now our turn to do for her. 

God’s Blessings
Gene, Lora and Ellen