My name is Joe, I am Judy's eldest son. I recently retired from the military and moved back home. My mother had asked that I come home to help her out due to my Step-father being diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer with a 9 to 12 month life expectancy. Upon my arrival here I soon found out that my Mother had medical issues of her own and that Step-Father has been responding quite to his treatment regime. Over the past several months my mother’s blood pressure had been as high as 210/190 and that she was seeing a cardiologist, a neurologist, chiropractor, and any OTHER specialist that one or the other would refer her to. No one had the answers after sonograms, MRI's, wearing of a heart monitor for a week, and a dozen or so prescriptions. Mom had her first stroke in early October, it was on the right front of her brain. Her brain was swelling so severely that they had to remove a large section of the skull cap on the right side of her head. She recovered quite well after the first stroke although we had issues with the quality of her after her discharge. She went to a skilled nursing facility, and although there were people on staff that really cared about their patients, there were others that appeared to be there to collect a paycheck. My mother ended up dehydrated do to that the ONLY liquids she would get is one or two cups of thickened liquid (juice or water) during meal times. Since my mother couldn’t feed herself is was up to staff to assist her. If my mother didn’t want to eat or drink they didn’t push her to eat or drink, it was easier to just “it’s alright you don’t have to”. Whenever we were there we would push the issue with and she would eat or drink more than a bite or two and a few sips. Due to this lack of care and the antibiotics she was on, she developed an infection. She should have eaten more to physically “push” the infection out of her intestines. The other was that didn’t they take care of her when she needed a diaper change. She would sit in the diarrhea from the infection and her urine for as long as three hours. Due to their lack of care mom was sent back to hospital for being dehydrated, a serious intestinal infection, and a nasty care of diaper rash. During her stay at this facility she was also supposed to receive physical therapy, we found out through an un-named staff member that it wasn’t happening and that probably someone was just documenting what they “supposedly’ did with mom and left it at that. We had brought this up with the Social Worker and asked for a sign in sheet at bedside which never happened either. During my mother’s brief stay at the hospital she was treated for the infection, given plenty of liquids, but still had trouble with getting her to eat, she would say “The food here tastes like crap”. Well yeah I guess it would be if everything you were given was pureed and reformed to look like something edible. Her treatment was coming along fine, although she could not do any p/t due her infection. We were expecting her to stay a week because that is what we were told by the doctor, two days later we were asked where were we sending her because she was released and could no longer stay at the hospital. My Step-Dad and I spend the day driving all over Madera and Fresno looking for a skilled nursing facility that acceptable after our last experience we dug deeper with questions and “tours”. We found one that was recommended and fit our agenda for mom. Well she literally didn’t last 14 hours there before they sent her right back to the hospital from whence she came. Upon her return to the hospital it was discover that she had a blood clot in her thigh. So new doctor, new treatment this time she stayed for four days and was then transferred to another floor and another doctor. It seemed like we were getting the run around with answers and diagnosis’s. We had had enough and had her moved to a location closer to us. We checked out the facility, again we had heard bad things but we thought it best to be closer to mom. We addressed our concerns and were met with the right answers, met some great and wonderful staff and was assured that if they didn’t meet our needs they would transfer her out. The facility she went to had the best care she had had since her stroke. We were quite impressed and it wasn’t just a show. The care she had was genuine, professional, and caring. Sadly just as things were improving my Mom had another stroke this time it was accompanied with seizures. Despite everyone’s best efforts mom did not “wake up” this time. Her brain is damaged that it will support basic life functions, she has developed a lung infection, her kidneys are shutting down and that it is just a matter of time.
Unfortunately my mother and step –dad live on a limited income of about $700 a month, were only eating about once a day maybe twice before my arrival. There is no insurance to pay for any funeral and other expenses. I am humbly asking for a simple donation to help us give my mother a decent burial. She was to be buried next to youngest son and father in Whittier, California. The plots are already paid for although it doesn’t include anything else. We have picked out the most inexpensive items for her funeral but it still is way more than I or my family have. Unfortunately we live in a world where everyone wants money up front before doing anything, especially when you die. (Can’t say that I blame them).

The money raised will be used to pay for her funeral, transportation cost, and a small service. Mom is fading fast and we need the funds as soon as possible. Anyhing extra will go to paying off any "Loans" that we have to get to pay for the service if the full amount is not raised in time.

Thank You for reading my plea for assistance

 Joe