Thompson Family Rebuilding Fund

On March 17th 2017 our mobile home burned to the ground and we lost everything. We are a family of 5 my husband, myself and our 3 children.  We walked away literally with what we were wearing that day.      I would like to tell you a little bit about our family if that is ok? My husband and I were married in 2002 and we moved to Guyton Georgia which is a small town in Southeast Georgia about an hour from Savannah, we moved into that mobile home and we started our family. Our first child was born 5 weeks early in 2003, Mackayla is severe profound special needs(she has the cognitive ability of a 12-36 month old on a GOOD day as well as physical handicaps as well) she is my fighter and my hero, she has not had an easy life she wasn't supposed to live past the age of 2, but she has the heart of an angel and when she smiles she just lights the entire room up! She was diagnosed in 2004 with a mitochondrial disorder called MELAS it is genetic and very rare, she has had approximately 75 strokes and she is only 15! She also suffers from several seizure disorders because of all of the brain damage as well as spastic cerebral palsy. We call her our million dollar baby!      In late summer  2005 we were blessed with twins, JR and Ellie who just turned 13, who were also preemies and they both have learning disablities, and while their lives haven't been as hard medically for them they still struggle daily, I imagine it is very hard to be in middle school and have to listen to other kids talk and call their sister horrible names. I am so proud of them and I just wish that they could catch a break, they too have been through so much in their short lives. They are still having nightmares about the fire and it just breaks my heart I want to take their pain away.      My husband John was diagnosed in 2005(our twins were 4 MONTHS OLD) with stage 3B chemo resistant Sclerosing Hodgkins Lymphoma, he was 28 years old. He has had to have 2 Bone Marrow Transplants, has literally taken 10 YEARS of chemo straight AND been on a clinical drug trial. He is now finally in remission for the last 18 months for the FIRST time in 13 YEARS. He just turned 41 and unfortunately from all of the chemo, experimental drugs and high dose steroids he had to take to try and save his life he now has early onset cataracts, severe AVN(Avascular necrosis) which is where the chemo literally killed his bones, he has had 1 surgery already and still has 4 more to do. He had to go out on disability in late 2009 and he will never work again and all 5 of us have to live on his single disability check as I am the sole caretaker to both him amd our oldest daughter, he is 41 and has to walk with a cane.      Well we are down to me now... I am Katie and I am 39, and I am the only caretaker of not just my husband but also my 3 children and especially my oldest daughter who has to have everything done for her. My health isn't the best either, I have 4 herniated disks from carrying and picking my oldest disabled daughter up(when she has a seizure you don't think about yourself you pick her up and get her to a safe place and worry about the pain later)and the few times my husband has fallen and I had to get him off of the floor. I also have moderate to severe fibromyalgia and I was recently diagnosed with sarcoidosis which is a lung disease And I was diagnosed with PTSD after the fire.      It has now been 18 months since the devastating fire that took everything from us, we are so very thankful that we were not in the house when it caught on fire or we wouldn't have made it out alive. We have been trying our best to rebuild our lives and new home from scratch, unfortunately we were VERY underinsured because it was a mobile home, and the insurance companies put very low caps on mobile homes(which they don't tell you about until after you have a catastrophic loss like we did.)      Our dream was to build an ADA compatible house for Mackayla and John because they will both eventually be in wheelchairs. We were taken advantage of by the builder who was re-building our home he took our money and we have basically been left with a house that is half way finished. The contractors HVAC guy also took our money and ran and left us with a complete mess so that all has to be re-done so that it will meet code.      Our new contractor estimates that it will take around 81k to finish our house to the point that we can finally move in.      I am putting my pride aside and asking for help for my family. With everything that we have been through and all of the medical bills from John and Mack and living on 1 disability check for 5 people, we are struggling bad. I just want my babies to have a roof over their head and food in their bellies. We do not live beyond our means we are very frugal people, but no one expects to be left homeless by a fire. Please give in any way that you can, even sharing our story helps. Recieved an email from GoFundMe this morning so I am going to cut and paste the info they said I need to have listed: To ensure your account is approved for withdrawals, we ask that you include the following information in your campaign story: Who you are and where you’re from: Katie Thompson from Guyton Georgia Your relationship or contact to the parties you're raising funds for My Own Family How the funds will be spent (be specific as possible) The first 2,500 will be spent on finishing our electric up in the home, anything over 2,500 will go toward plumbing, tile and labor for the handicapped shower, paint and anything else that we need to make the home as safe and accessible for Mackayla and John. Your withdrawal plan to get the funds from the campaign to the ultimate beneficiary/ies Funds will be direct deposited into our building fund account at our bank.