Goal:
USD $10,000
Raised:
USD $785
Campaign funds will be received by Margaret Gold
We're reaching the end of our rope, and our funds.
I've been taking care of my elderly mother and her husband for almost eight months. (I'm writing this on her seventy-ninth Birthday). She has osteoarthritis, degenerative disc disease, and dementia. She can no longer walk, and lost about ninety percent of her hand function. She also can't see very well, and mostly can't hear. My stepfather is on a walker after breaking his hip in January of this year. They've been living entirely off of Social Security income and little else. Since I and my paid helpers came into this home, my mom has improved enough to "graduate" off of hospice; she's experienced weight gain, improved cognition, stabilized overall health, and even a great deal of tailbone wound healing. She would not be healing this much in a state run home, and would likely be in decline. That, however, is what we will soon be facing without intervention.
As it is, I and the helpers reposition her every two to three hours all day and night, provide meticulous, holistic care, cleansing, and physical and cognitive stimulation and exercise. A state run facility could and would never do that.
Government programs, such as Medicaid and the VA have very strict income limits, without taking into account expenses that are absolutely necessary for the household to safely function, such as a staff of four helpers who work part time, healthy food and decent supplies, a couple of prescriptions for joint pain, and supplements. Such examples are salmon, eggs, bananas, incontinence accessories, renting oxygen, filtered water, iron, calcium, comfrey oil, aloe, and pressure wound bandages. We also want to build a ramp, so that they can safely go outdoors and get fresh air for a while, as well as be transported more easily to clinics and what not. No one in the home qualifies for any kind of assistance, except brief hospitalization.
I don't qualify for any healthcare whatsoever, am no longer paid at all, and my helpers' hours have been cut dramatically, leaving me in a very precarious medical and mental health situation. No helper is scheduled for overnights, and never was, so I get about three to five hours of interrupted sleep every night, because there has never been anyone else available to reposition my mother. I only have to get sick once, or collapse from exhaustion for this house of cards to fall.
I left a job of almost ten years and a brand new fiance' in another state to be here. He visits me every few weeks. We were supposed to be married in mid-October.
The goal is to keep everything going in this doublewide trailer for as long as possible, then eventually to have the best full-time nursing staff, or my mom and stepdad placed in the best residential facility(ies), close to family who can ensure their safety and well-being.
I hate to put this on anyone, and I know that so many people are also struggling, but anything you are able to give would be so extraordinarily appreciated. Even a few dollars helps to ensure that I can get this family what they need for their health, and the fewer extremely difficult decisions I will have to make that could negatively alter their lives, and mine.
Many blessings to you.
--Meg
Praying for you and your family
God bless you and your family.
May God give you a way to ease your burden. He will not overlook your labor of love !!! God bless Ed, Mary, Meg and helpers !!! ..........Ken Nagel 🙂
Praying for you all.
May God's healing light shine on you.
Praying for you.
We love you, our precious sister in Christ - our prayers are with you and for you and your family. God bless.
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