Help Margaret Get Her Words Again

I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but Margaret needs our help. We haven’t officially hidden what happened, we just haven’t been very open about announcing it. On May 26th, 2017, when Margaret was visiting her son and his family in Austin, Tx when she suffered a stroke. She lost the ability to move her right side, lost her ability to walk, and lost her words completely. But we all know Margaret- even no feeling in her right side couldn’t keep her from walking. She has been improving in all areas since the moment this happened, but is not quite back to herself- and she may never be 100%. Given that it’s a brain injury, we will never know how much recovery can or cannot take place, but given that it’s Margaret, we can’t ever vote against her, even if the odds are.

Margaret’s most recent job was something she was very passionate about. It not only paid the bills, it gave her a wonderful purpose- educating Missourians about regenerative medicine. Without words, she cannot do this job and therefore has trouble paying the bills. She was healthy, she exercised regularly, doesn’t drink, and ate an extremely balanced diet- so no one could have predicted this and she did not have an emergency fund for it. Turning 65 in October has helped a little because of Medicare and getting Social Security, but it isn’t enough to get by. The Long Term Disability has been an actual miracle to get us by this far, but (long story, short) because she got Social Security Disability back pay, we owe that money to them and the payments have stopped.

She still lives at home and cares for the 10 acres mowing it and walking it regularly. We need help weed-eating around the pond and caring for the flower gardens, but those things aren’t as essential as the lack of money right now! Living there helps provide her something to do, since she has never been a woman to sit still. She also tries to spend time with her granddaughters as often as she can, but now 3 live in St. Louis and 2 live in Austin, so even a trip to St. Louis is too much for the current negative budget. I believe if we can help get her through another year or two, take the stress off a little bit so she can focus less on money and more on recovery, she will be able to work again someday. I know many people don’t agree with me there, but I know my mom and if you know her half as well as I do, you know she will never give up on this. You also know that we wouldn’t ask for help unless it was an absolute emergency. I don’t know what magic number of dollars will be what helps, but I know ANYTHING will mean the world to us and any amount is helpful. Please help me help her get her words again!