My mother, Joanne, is the strongest, most selfless person I know. She’s endured unimaginable loss and hardship as a single mother—losing her only sibling in her 20s, her firstborn son Robert the day after he was born, and my father in 2001, to name a few. Despite these heartbreaks, she’s never stopped giving everything she has to her family.
Robert’s twin, my sister Kariann, survived but lives with cerebral palsy. She requires full-time assistance for every task—eating, bathing, moving between her wheelchair and bed. My mother has lovingly provided that care for the majority of her life. Just this week, my sister underwent her third life-saving surgery in under a year and remains hospitalized.
In addition to caring for Kariann and the rest of our family, my mother has worked as a teacher’s aide for special needs children in the Nassau BOCES programmer nearly 20 years. She adores her students and continues to go to work every day, even though she faces her own growing health challenges. She recently found out she will need surgery on her knee, which she’s been limping on for months.
Besides the emotional and physical demands, my mother has faced constant financial struggle. My sister’s surgeries and life-long care has been very costly. Additionally, last year, she lost a long and painful legal battle that now requires her to pay over $50,000 to the nursing home where my grandfather passed. Earlier this year, she received notice that she was at risk of losing her home due to falling behind on property taxes. On top of this, her home—an aging, 150-year-old two-bedroom house passed down through generations—is falling apart. She’s dealt with everything from a collapsing roof to disintegrating electrical wiring that left certain areas of the home powerless. The floors are crumbling, there’s holes in the walls, and the house hasn’t seen any real renovation in over 50 years. In a desperate effort to help my mother, I took out a sizable personal loan to save her house; we’re now struggling to repay it.
She turns 65 this year and dreams of retiring, selling her home, and finding a more affordable living situation somewhere down south. But between medical bills, home repairs, legal debts, along with everything else, that dream feels impossibly far away.
She doesn’t know I’m doing this, and she’ll probably be a little upset when she finds out—but my greatest hope is to see her comfortable, safe, and finally able to rest. I’ll never forget the day she sat outside the social services office with us kids in the car, paused, and then said, “I don’t need this,” and drove off—only to take on a third job as a night custodian at the church. That’s who she is: strong, proud, and endlessly giving. I’m working hard every day toward being able to support her better, but until I can, I’m turning to you—friends, family, and kind strangers alike, for help.
Whether it’s through a donation or by sharing her story, anything you can do to help would mean the world to me. My mom has been through hell and back and still manages to be the most loving, generous soul I know. She deserves peace. She deserves rest. She deserves to be taken care of—for once.
Thank you so much for reading. God bless you all.