Losing Home to Hospice Care Debt
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Your help is urgently needed!
My name is Julie and my friends Heather and Marcus and their two daughters are going to lose their home in about eight days. Heather and Marcus are $70,000 in debt due to caring for her dying parents, Ann and Don.
Ann and Don were both lifelong humanitarians. Growing up in the South in the 40’s and 50’s they witnessed discrimination and cruelty firsthand. Joining the Civil Rights Movement, Don, a preacher, joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ministry and both he and Ann, a poet and writer, lobbied and demonstrated for the cause, including participating in the celebrated march across the Selma bridge. They continued their humanitarian efforts throughout their lives, fighting against discrimination of any kind, and made it their mission in life to spread love, kindness, joy and the message of acceptance to all. They had an unwavering faith in all of human kind. That faith in human kind was put to the test when their son was brutally murdered on his 21st birthday. We watched as Ann and Don aged at least 15 years literally overnight, and the heartbreak would continue to take a toll on their health for the rest of their lives. By their mid- 70’s, Ann and Don both required full time medical care, and being that long term care insurance only lasts so long, their daughter and son-in-law, Heather and Marcus, had no acceptable recourse other than to take Ann and Don into their home.
Heather left her job as a social worker in order to care for her beloved parents as they required round the clock attention. Marcus, who has been fighting a debilitating illness that has required multiple hospitalizations a year for the past 15 years, is often unable to work full time, which is a source of immense frustration for him. Heather and Marcus struggled to make ends meet, but you do what you have to do for your family. Few people were ever aware of the extent of the financial toll that was being taken, as Marcus and Heather seemed to revel in the fact that they were able to provide such loving care to her parents and that they felt so blessed to have been given what sometimes seemed like borrowed time with Ann and Don. That is just who Marcus and Heather are; people who share their joy with others and not their burdens. As the ever increasing home healthcare, and later home hospice costs, continued to pile up, even selling the historic family home did not put a large enough dent in the insurmountable bills. Ann and Don have now passed on, but Heather and Marcus are left with a $70,000 debt, and now they are in jeopardy of losing their own modest home within the next week.
Heather and Marcus are lifelong friends, generous to a fault, and would do anything for anyone. They are devastated to have to ask for help from others and were only talked into it in the name of their two beautiful daughters that they still have to put through college.
Please consider a donation of any amount to help our dear friends. We know without a doubt that the second they are able to get back on their feet, they will turn around and pay it forward to someone else in need, because that’s just who they are.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read their story and please spread the word if you are able!
My name is Julie and my friends Heather and Marcus and their two daughters are going to lose their home in about eight days. Heather and Marcus are $70,000 in debt due to caring for her dying parents, Ann and Don.
Ann and Don were both lifelong humanitarians. Growing up in the South in the 40’s and 50’s they witnessed discrimination and cruelty firsthand. Joining the Civil Rights Movement, Don, a preacher, joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ministry and both he and Ann, a poet and writer, lobbied and demonstrated for the cause, including participating in the celebrated march across the Selma bridge. They continued their humanitarian efforts throughout their lives, fighting against discrimination of any kind, and made it their mission in life to spread love, kindness, joy and the message of acceptance to all. They had an unwavering faith in all of human kind. That faith in human kind was put to the test when their son was brutally murdered on his 21st birthday. We watched as Ann and Don aged at least 15 years literally overnight, and the heartbreak would continue to take a toll on their health for the rest of their lives. By their mid- 70’s, Ann and Don both required full time medical care, and being that long term care insurance only lasts so long, their daughter and son-in-law, Heather and Marcus, had no acceptable recourse other than to take Ann and Don into their home.
Heather left her job as a social worker in order to care for her beloved parents as they required round the clock attention. Marcus, who has been fighting a debilitating illness that has required multiple hospitalizations a year for the past 15 years, is often unable to work full time, which is a source of immense frustration for him. Heather and Marcus struggled to make ends meet, but you do what you have to do for your family. Few people were ever aware of the extent of the financial toll that was being taken, as Marcus and Heather seemed to revel in the fact that they were able to provide such loving care to her parents and that they felt so blessed to have been given what sometimes seemed like borrowed time with Ann and Don. That is just who Marcus and Heather are; people who share their joy with others and not their burdens. As the ever increasing home healthcare, and later home hospice costs, continued to pile up, even selling the historic family home did not put a large enough dent in the insurmountable bills. Ann and Don have now passed on, but Heather and Marcus are left with a $70,000 debt, and now they are in jeopardy of losing their own modest home within the next week.
Heather and Marcus are lifelong friends, generous to a fault, and would do anything for anyone. They are devastated to have to ask for help from others and were only talked into it in the name of their two beautiful daughters that they still have to put through college.
Please consider a donation of any amount to help our dear friends. We know without a doubt that the second they are able to get back on their feet, they will turn around and pay it forward to someone else in need, because that’s just who they are.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read their story and please spread the word if you are able!
Organizer and beneficiary
Julie Harwell
Organizer
Heather Weems-Elliott
Beneficiary