Bipolar Daughter And Disabled Mother Seek Grant Money For Debt Relief
by Eva Sliger
My father left my mother in 1999. He had been an abusive and philandering husband. My mother stayed with him to keep me from living the life she had to live, growing up in an alcoholic home in a poor area of Tennessee. I returned home, got out of school and got a job to help my mother after my dad left. Then my mom got very sick in 2005 with pheocromosytoma, which is an extra adrenal tissue on the nervous system. Although rare, this disease is treatable, even curable, but because it keeps her body in a constant state of fight or flight it cause multiple health problems. My mom has also been diagnosed with diabetes, COPD, asthma, high blood pressure, heart damage, a small aneurism in the heart, diabetic neuropathy in her hands and feet, degenerative spine, edema, depression, anxiety, fatty infiltration in her liver, calcification of her mitral valve, kidney problems causing her body to be unable to remove all the toxins from her muscles, low iron, low calcium, angina, stomach problems, and just recently she was told she has Type 1 sleep apnea. Type 1 sleep apnea is where the brain is not able to get a message to the lungs to breathe. We believe this all stems from the pheocromosytoma, which causes her to be weak, and unable to do many of the things she once did. She has to be extremely careful not to aggravate the pheo as it will cause severe problems and she could end up in the hospital again. She can have no stress of any kind. She has to watch how she moves as it could bring on an attack, which could cause more damage to her body or even kill her. To treat or cure pheocromosytoma, the doctors would have to take her off her many blood pressure medications (atenolol , verapamil, diovan, lisinopril, nitro patches, nitro sublingual and terasosin), which would cause her blood pressure to go so high so quickly that it could cause a severe stroke or kill her. Then the doctors would have to find the pheo, which could be as small as a head of a pin or much larger and remove it. All her doctors refuse to do the procedure because it is too dangerous. My mom has many medical bills with a recurring total of $150 for medications: Advair inhaler, pro-air inhaler, albuteral solution for a nebulizer, theophylline, fluticasone nasal spray, an allergy medication, GI cocktail to numb the pain in her stomach, omeprazole, phenogran, actos, metformain, zoloft, xanax, trazadone, bupropin, potassium, lasix, ferrous sulfate, calcitroil, and her diabetic supplies. For the oxygen, the CPAP machine and the TENS unit, the monthly rental cost is $100. When she almost died in 2005, I had a nervous breakdown. She is my anchor which is very important to a diagnosed bipolar. Without an anchor, I could not function very well. I was unable to continue to work full time. She was given full disability in 2006. Because I was unable to work full time we lived on what she got from Social Security Disability and a portion of my dad's military retirement, which was awarded, in the divorce settlement. We had to barrow from a monthly check-cashing place and against the title of our only vehicle. In 2007 I became unable to continue to work so I put in for Social Security Disability, which I finally got in 2009. This helped us get by, but we now have two check loans (totaling $1176), a loan on the vehicle (totaling $1500) and there are the medical bills (totaling $2500) so far. We scrape by every month yet we are unable to pay any medical or doctor bills so they keep adding up. Right now we have disconnect notices for the water bill and the electric bill and the interest payments are also due on the payday loans. We are one month behind on the rest of the utility bills. My mother has gone through hell all her life with sexual and physical abuse. She struggled with an abusive husband to raise me, educated herself and as soon as she and my dad got into a good financial place he left. Now we are in a place of poverty and lack again. My mother is 57 and I want her to have an easier time of life now, which is why I am asking for a grant. If we could get a debt relief grant or other such help to pay all the loans, medical bills and utility bills to current status we would be back on level ground.
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