On December 7th my cousin Kiesha was getting ready to celebrate her birthday with her mother, Toni. Her mother was at the store getting the supplies for a house party. Keisha hears her phone ring and knows it is her mother with a question to ask. She answers the phone to the sound of a stranger on the other line. She asks, "Who is this and where is her mother?." The man tells her "I was by your momma when she fell out on the floor and wasn't moving. They called 911 and they took her to the hospital." Kiesha rushed to the hospital, but it was in vain. Toni was dead upon arrival with no known cause as to why.

Keisha spent her birthday in agony. She now had the responsibility of telling the rest of the family of her mother's death while also grappling with the fact she was now alone in Jackson, Mississippi with 4 kids of her own. Trying to pull herself together, Kiesha now had to also break the news to her two autistic nephews whom Toni cared for. She drove to her mother's home, a home Toni proudly owned and the only asset she could pass down to her children. Keisha distraught and in pain rushed her autistic nephews to stop cooking and collect their belongings so they could spend the night at her house. She knew her mother would not want them to be alone. But she had not the heart to break the news to them yet that their grandmother had passed.

Finally, at home after a nightmare of a day, Kiesha was finally able to lie down. Not one hour into her sleep she receives back-to-back calls. It was her mother's next-door neighbor. Her mother's house had caught on fire, and everything in the home was ablaze.

Kiesha collapsed on the floor thinking, "Am I being punished?"

Toni was a mother of 4 and a grandmother to 12; lived a difficult life full of turmoil and tragedy. She, however, carved a life for herself, working full-time as an American Sign Language (ASL) translator, while also being the full-time caregiver to 3 of her grandchildren (two of who are autistic). She was one of the most caring and upbeat women I have ever met and her death leaves a void for the entire family. The home her grandchildren shared with her is burned and unrecoverable. Her death leaves mounting bills, funeral costs, and uncertainty about the future of her grandchildren.

My name is Reggie Withers, I am an ER nurse in Los Angeles. I write this hoping that you have an open heart as this tragedy has fallen on my family so close to the holidays. With her mother's home burned down my cousin, Kiesha is now alone in Jackson, Mississippi with 8 people now under her roof. I appreciate any generosity you can give to my family and wish God blesses you.