My friend Mary and her two sons have been homeless now for about three months. In the middle of all of this, Both of her sons have required serious surgeries to correct issues associated with a rare bone disorder, HME. They had been living in a shelter in Fargo, ND and making a four hour drive (each way) a few times a week for treatment at the Gillette Children's Hospital in St. Paul, MN. In the middle of July, one of her sons developed a serious infection in a surgical incision and had to be hospitalized for several days on IV antibiotics. After this, they were not able to return to the shelter, as that was found to be the source of the infection.
We've been trying to raise funds to help Mary get through this time and get moved to Oregon once treatment is complete. She is about 2 - 4 weeks away from that move. Right now, she and her sons are living in an extended stay hotel near the hospital. They tried to get into the Ronald McDonald House, but the waiting list was too long, and once her son was released from the hospital they no longer qualified.
Our fundraiser ends tomorrow and we are 40% of the way to our goal. We got an awesome push toward the goal when Dave Foley from the Kids in the Hall tweeted the fundraising page, but we need another push. If you have a twitter account or Facebook account, please share the link. The page is here: http://www.giveforward.com/...
Thanks everyone who has helped so far, Mary is really touched by all of your support and well wishes.
If you would like more details about Mary's situation, this previous diary is more in depth: http://www.dailykos.com/...
If you would like more information about HME, here is the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Mary has had a minor set back this week. Her oldest son, Matthew needs additional surgery to correct growth issues in his ankle. Normally, I suppose, needing additional major surgery would not be a minor setback, but these surgeries have become standard fare for Mary and her sons. The good news is that it should not delay her move to Oregon.