About 6 weeks ago, Nelson Groff found his biological mother, Betty Polson. She was living about 3 hours from his home in Moultrie, GA. When she did not answer the phone number he was given, he and Julia drove to her last known address, and after asking some neighbors, were shown where she lived. They found her living in very poor conditions, with rapidly declining health. Her husband passed away 11 years ago, and she had no other family in her life. She was overjoyed to find her baby boy! She had looked for him on various platforms without success.

A few days later, with the support of others in his community, Nelson made the decision to bring her back to his hometown and have her admitted to a local hospital, so that he would be nearby to oversee her care and give support. It was obvious that she did not have the support she needed, only an elderly neighbor who checked in on her, and a friend from the town nearby.

The weeks that followed were intense. Tests showed that she was in the final stages of rectal cancer, with a large tumor in her abdomen. Efforts were made to stabilize her and build up her strength so that she could be a candidate for further treatment. She was eventually moved to a local rehab in Moultrie.

Last week, she developed pneumonia. They were able to get on top of that, but on Friday, she developed a large blood clot in her leg, and was taken to the hospital again. Since she was already bleeding internally from her cancer, they were unable to give her blood thinner to fight the clot. Blood tests also showed that her organs were shutting down. The decision was made to place her under hospice care, but before they got her back to the rehab last night, she passed away. She was 71.

Since she has no family other than Nelson and his family, it is his wish to honor her with a memorial service. The Meigs congregation has graciously agreed to help with that, and to allow her to be buried in their cemetery. Since she had no money to cover funeral costs and other end of life expenses, we would like to use this platform to give others outside of the local community the opportunity to help the Meigs congregation and Nelson's with this need! Thank you for caring!