Help A Family in Need: June 2009

We received a cry for help on May 28, 2009, from a father in south Florida.

His words were:

“We are asking for help in desperation to save our daughter’s life, and we are running out of time. Our beautiful 22 year old daughter, a college student, big sister to four younger siblings, and loving girlfriend, is dying, and we have nowhere else to turn.”

Twenty-two year old C. and her family have faced the unimaginable.  She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of five and has had relapses and treatments ever since.  Now, she is dying from an inoperable tumor in her mouth.  It is blocking her airway, and C. is no longer able to take solid food; she is literally choking on the tumor. Because C. began to have organ failure from chemotherapy, the doctors have switched to radiation to shrink the tumor. Sadly, the cancer has spread to her jaw and possibly to her tongue.

To make matters worse, C.’s father lost his job in January when his company moved to South America. The family has used up all its savings. Medicaid has refused payment for pet scans in the past, and last week, an oral surgeon refused surgery because Medicaid would not pay him enough. The family has no insurance for C. and is “left with no hope.”  They are now $6,500 behind on their mortgage payments and find themselves “underwater,” owing more than the home is now worth after it was bought at the market’s height.

What can ASRL can do with a situation this sad, this dark, and according to the family, this hopeless?

ASRL is relieving this family’s financial burden so that they can be with their dying daughter. First, ASRL is helping to rescue the home from foreclosure.  ASRL staff are negotiating with the family’s loan company to forbear on the mortgage and restructure its payments.  Second, ASRL is determining other expenses the family needs covered and is paying these everyday needs billsto give the family “breathing room” during C.’s last days.  While, tragically, this tight-knit and loving family may lose their precious daughter, ASRL wants to ensure they are at her side…and have a home to return to.  You can help us soften their tragedy by making a contribution.