Lifeline for Sarah

Sarah suffered a severe brain injury as an infant and is now almost 29. After a lifetime of constant, uncontrollable severe seizures (recently diagnosed as Lennox-Gastaut Syndromehttps://www.epilepsy.com/learn/types-epilepsy-syndromes/lennox-gastaut-syndrome-lgs ), she is being offered Epilepsy surgery at the University of Miami Hospital! However, everything has been delayed and made more complicated by the COVID-19 Pandemic. We now find ourselves in urgent need of donations.

We moved from Texas to South Florida last October to save Sarah’s life. Texas Medicaid had not provided the home health care nursing Sarah requires since April of 2016, and her medical care was so substandard that she almost died on several occasions from medical errors and medical neglect. Our situation was dire, and it was dangerous for both of us for Sarah to have no nursing. She has severe cognitive deficit and can do very little for herself. She can never be left alone.

We now find ourselves in strict quarantine facing possible homelessness! Our situation is most urgent! Sarah could never survive homelessness, especially with COVID-19 rampant in Florida. Sarah has a primary immunodeficiency and is at very high risk for COVID-19. It is of the utmost importance that we both maintain our strict quarantine during the Pandemic.

We are living in an apartment that we moved into only as a way to establish residency. I would like to regain the permanency of home ownership eventually, but in the meantime we need money for basic living expenses and Sarah’s medications that are not covered by Medicaid. I am hoping that with steady nursing (which Sarah now has) that I can return to the workforce eventually, but our immediate need is to cover our basic living expenses. I am a single mother and have not been able to work since 1994 because of the severity of Sarah’s condition. Sarah receives SSI, but the monthly amount was reduced once I began paying rent. In Texas I owned my house outright and had relatively low monthly living costs. Also Sarah received the maximum SSI amount when we lived in Texas. My widowed mother had helped support us for all those years, but she can no longer continue as she is at the end of her life with rising medical costs.

Any donations would be greatly appreciated! We are facing possible homelessness and I am facing the possible loss of my health insurance in the middle of a Pandemic! I have worked very hard to create a supportive home for my children under the worst of circumstances for over 28 years with only the support of my family. Now I need help from others. While no one can love a daughter more than her mother, I am hoping that others can show her some extraordinary kindness and support. In other words, I am asking for a lifeline for Sarah!

Sincerely,

Tracy Steinbach