Family Seeks Grant Money To Save CF Disabled Child From Homelessness
by Michelle Dawson
Amanda in March 2010 in Des Moines Methodist ICU
Our first-born Amanda was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis in June of 1998 at the age of eight years old. One month later she was given a trans-jugular biopsy of the liver only to find that she has biliary cirrhosis secondary to the CF. In October of 1998 she had a portal hypertension bleed and in November of 1998 she had an operation called a splenorenal shunt. This was one of the worst years of our lives. The following year in September, we were evicted from our rental home for no given reason and basically forced into buying a place after three months of living with my husband's parents. As Amanda has gotten older, things have only worsened for her. She now has diabetes and will soon undergo yet another procedure to make sure she doesn't have cancer of the liver, as this does sometimes happen with people that have cirrhosis. We have become unable to keep up the house payments let alone do any kind of remodeling to our home. All I want is to at least be able to get a grant to save our home. We are on a fixed income and have been since Amanda became so very ill. We gave up our lives to save hers, because if either of us had worked, her medical would have been taken away. There is no job we could get that would offer health insurance because her condition was "Preexisting." Her medications run in the $1000s per month, not including any hospital stays she might need. Now that she is 21, our lives have passed us by. I am reaching 42 and my husband is nearly 50. I am out of ideas on how to save our home from foreclosure. Please, someone out there, help us if you can. I don't know how I would take care of her being homeless. Sincerely, the Dawsons.
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