Mom in Hospice: Help See Grandkids
Donation protected
My mom, Jude Collins Crawford, has been in hospital since just before Thanksgiving last year. It took months of complications and procedures and today we learned that her lungs are so scarred by pulmonary fibrosis, that her prognosis now is weeks to months and she has entered hospice care, soon to be transferred to her home.
She was surprised by this, that there is absolutely nothing that can be done for her - she is not eligible for a transplant because she would not survive the surgery.
My parents retired down to NC three years ago, while we (myself, husband, and our two sons) remained in Maine. Our sons are 4 1/2 years and 7 years old, and love their BigEye (grandma) very much. Though they've not seen her in person in 3 years, they've maintained constant visits via video chat. Jasper especially is very distraught by the news of her failing health especially, as he's older and had more memories playing together. Georgie, who is 4 1/2 and born with Prader-Willi Syndrome, was still in his wheelchair when they moved away. He's come so far since then, and is a thriving boy with many dance moves to share, and plenty of hugs to give to anyone he passes by.
Our greatest wish - my mom's, dad's, all of us - is to be reunited one last time, in person.
For this we need plane tickets, and we are a family of very limited means in this time of our lives. I priced the cheapest tickets to get us from Bangor, ME to New Bern, NC, and it would be about $625/ticket with baggage fees. Hence, what we are hoping to raise.
I understand that this may not happen - but when I think of our family, so small in this world, with many challenges, and my boys losing their only grandmother, the only family member besides their grandpa that they have in this world- I am not ashamed to ask, plead, beg - to fulfill a dying woman's wishes to see and hold her grandbabies one last time.
My mom is only 62, and these are her only grandchildren. Had the pulmonary fibrosis been found sooner, she would not have moved so far away, knowing time would be limited. Now we're all faced with a gripping reality, and trying to smile through it as best we can.
We've been hit particularly hard by challenges in life: our firstborn is autistic, though now high functioning, and our 4 year old being born with a rare genetic disorder with a plethora of issues - my husband being diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis which rendered him unable to move easily, and then two devastating seizures for him last year which left him with renal failure and a host of other issues at only 43 years old. And finally, last August, my own diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, which has already robbed me of my strength a great deal. My mother was actually planning to move back up here to help us after my MS diagnosis, before she went into hospital for an outpatient surgery on a shoulder, and ended up in respiratory distress on a downhill slide.
We've been through all of this and just keep swimming! If the powers that be find us a way down to my mother's arms one last time, we shall be truly blessed.
Thanks for reading our plea. xxx
She was surprised by this, that there is absolutely nothing that can be done for her - she is not eligible for a transplant because she would not survive the surgery.
My parents retired down to NC three years ago, while we (myself, husband, and our two sons) remained in Maine. Our sons are 4 1/2 years and 7 years old, and love their BigEye (grandma) very much. Though they've not seen her in person in 3 years, they've maintained constant visits via video chat. Jasper especially is very distraught by the news of her failing health especially, as he's older and had more memories playing together. Georgie, who is 4 1/2 and born with Prader-Willi Syndrome, was still in his wheelchair when they moved away. He's come so far since then, and is a thriving boy with many dance moves to share, and plenty of hugs to give to anyone he passes by.
Our greatest wish - my mom's, dad's, all of us - is to be reunited one last time, in person.
For this we need plane tickets, and we are a family of very limited means in this time of our lives. I priced the cheapest tickets to get us from Bangor, ME to New Bern, NC, and it would be about $625/ticket with baggage fees. Hence, what we are hoping to raise.
I understand that this may not happen - but when I think of our family, so small in this world, with many challenges, and my boys losing their only grandmother, the only family member besides their grandpa that they have in this world- I am not ashamed to ask, plead, beg - to fulfill a dying woman's wishes to see and hold her grandbabies one last time.
My mom is only 62, and these are her only grandchildren. Had the pulmonary fibrosis been found sooner, she would not have moved so far away, knowing time would be limited. Now we're all faced with a gripping reality, and trying to smile through it as best we can.
We've been hit particularly hard by challenges in life: our firstborn is autistic, though now high functioning, and our 4 year old being born with a rare genetic disorder with a plethora of issues - my husband being diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis which rendered him unable to move easily, and then two devastating seizures for him last year which left him with renal failure and a host of other issues at only 43 years old. And finally, last August, my own diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis, which has already robbed me of my strength a great deal. My mother was actually planning to move back up here to help us after my MS diagnosis, before she went into hospital for an outpatient surgery on a shoulder, and ended up in respiratory distress on a downhill slide.
We've been through all of this and just keep swimming! If the powers that be find us a way down to my mother's arms one last time, we shall be truly blessed.
Thanks for reading our plea. xxx
Organizer
Tobey Serena Crawford
Organizer
Beaufort, NC
