My mother’s medical expenses ❤️
Donation protected
My beautiful mother, Elena Rivas, was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in 2014. Since then, her health has deteriorated quite rapidly. She can no longer talk, and she is now completely immobile. She cannot sit up, stand, walk, eat, go to the bathroom, or bathe without a tremendous amount of assistance.
Since 2015, she has been living with my aunt (her sister) in Mexico. She is cared for full-time by two truly extraordinary women that my aunt has hired. She is peaceful and extremely loved and well cared for. We anticipate and hope that she will be able to remain there until her death.
The costs for her care have, so far, been able to be paid for with the small pension my mother receives from the Boston Retirement System (she worked as a Boston public school teacher for nearly 30 years). My mother unfortunately retired early, before we knew she was ill, and so the pension she receives is very small. As of 2017, as her condition has worsened and as my aunt has needed to add another woman to her care team, that pension is no longer enough to cover all of her expenses, and I have had to raise and send $1,500 additional dollars a month to cover her care.
I’m starting this GoFundMe in a moment when I’m finding it impossible to cover my own expenses living as an actor in NYC and also raise enough money to send to my aunt every month. I need my aunt and my mother’s caregivers are supported financially so that they can keep giving my mother the quality of care she’s receiving without more stress than the situation already has created for them, and right now I’m quite honestly finding that impossible. Anything you can give helps and I appreciate it more than I can say.
The women my aunt has hired are incredibly hard workers; they lift her out of bed, take her to the bathroom, bathe her in the shower, patiently feed her (each meal takes nearly two hours), give her physical therapy and massages, and keep her company, talking to her and singing to her and playing all her favorite kinds of music. They also do all her laundry, change her diapers, change her bedpans, cook all her food, clean up the inevitable accidents that happen — the list goes on. They're absolutely amazing and I don't know what we'd do without them.
My family is doing an absolutely magnificent job giving my mother the kind of care she would never be able to receive in this country, or in even the best assisted living facility in the world, in my (unbiased!) opinion. My mother couldn't be in a better place. It would mean the world to us if you could donate in any way you are able to help my mother and my family be comfortable despite this difficult and painful circumstance.
Thank you!!!
xo
Carmen Zilles
Since 2015, she has been living with my aunt (her sister) in Mexico. She is cared for full-time by two truly extraordinary women that my aunt has hired. She is peaceful and extremely loved and well cared for. We anticipate and hope that she will be able to remain there until her death.
The costs for her care have, so far, been able to be paid for with the small pension my mother receives from the Boston Retirement System (she worked as a Boston public school teacher for nearly 30 years). My mother unfortunately retired early, before we knew she was ill, and so the pension she receives is very small. As of 2017, as her condition has worsened and as my aunt has needed to add another woman to her care team, that pension is no longer enough to cover all of her expenses, and I have had to raise and send $1,500 additional dollars a month to cover her care.
I’m starting this GoFundMe in a moment when I’m finding it impossible to cover my own expenses living as an actor in NYC and also raise enough money to send to my aunt every month. I need my aunt and my mother’s caregivers are supported financially so that they can keep giving my mother the quality of care she’s receiving without more stress than the situation already has created for them, and right now I’m quite honestly finding that impossible. Anything you can give helps and I appreciate it more than I can say.
The women my aunt has hired are incredibly hard workers; they lift her out of bed, take her to the bathroom, bathe her in the shower, patiently feed her (each meal takes nearly two hours), give her physical therapy and massages, and keep her company, talking to her and singing to her and playing all her favorite kinds of music. They also do all her laundry, change her diapers, change her bedpans, cook all her food, clean up the inevitable accidents that happen — the list goes on. They're absolutely amazing and I don't know what we'd do without them.
My family is doing an absolutely magnificent job giving my mother the kind of care she would never be able to receive in this country, or in even the best assisted living facility in the world, in my (unbiased!) opinion. My mother couldn't be in a better place. It would mean the world to us if you could donate in any way you are able to help my mother and my family be comfortable despite this difficult and painful circumstance.
Thank you!!!
xo
Carmen Zilles
Organizer
Carmen Zilles
Organizer
New York, NY