Struggling Couple Seeks Grant Money To Stay Afloat

by Robert Lee
(Perryville, MD, USA)

My wife and I have been hard workers all our lives. Now we need help.

A second marriage for both of us lead us to have a second family of our own, and we've been blessed with two beautiful children; Erik 7, and Sabrina 5.

Even though we have older children, our love for kids did not deter us from starting a new family.

In 2005 after the birth of Sabrina, my wife was stricken with a 4 1/2" blood clot in her brain.

Inoperable and the attending hospital doctors unsure of what to do, we were thankful to have had an attending physician who interned at the University of Pennsylvania, and there they diagnosed and treated her with success.

A year later my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, and has battled through the trauma and surgeries to be at the point now where she is ready to go back to work.

During this time, we were forced to short-sale our dream home in neighboring Pennsylvania, which left us with a mountain of debt.

We have a maxed out credit card (a company bailed out by the government) which we had to survive on along with my income.

We have a second mortgage with our credit union (we've had to drop them so they didn't detach from my income what we owe them. I had been a member for almost 40 years, so that was very difficult).

We are currently living in my parent's home (both of whom are deceased) by the good grace of my younger brother whom the home was left to.

Our church has helped and we've had to borrow from family members, not knowing when we'll be able to repay is embarrassing and very humbling.

We are struggling heavily with keeping up on medical bills. My wife and both children are asthmatic, and my wife's cancer meds are 2 examples.

With just my income and trying to work every available hour possible, we are struggling to just keep out heads above water.

Always telling the kids "no" when they ask for the smallest things, never able to go out, not being able to buy my wife a single thing, and barely having enough gas or food for the weeks has left us emotionally drained and stressed. Repeated calls from collectors adds to this burden.

We need some assistance to be able to start our life over with a home and the essentials necessary to enjoy our lives.

Sincerly,

Robert Lee
Perryville, Maryland