Please help my Mum
Hello Lovely people, this is also posted in another section as we are desperately hoping everyone will see this. First up, I hope you are all doing okay and well! I have had a crazy couple of months with our son struggling with health issues and my husband working away, meaning it's just our four precious kids, and one phobic Mama!
The reason for this thread is that (as some of you know) my Mum (and best friend) has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which has recently been getting worse. Mum has spent her life giving to people in every way she can.
She sees someone struggling and even when she has little to give, she gives it. She puts money in peoples mailboxes when she knows they're struggling, and swears me to secrecy, spent ten years volunteering for Victim Support, helping people in the hours (and months) following rapes, suicides of loved ones, sudden deaths, SIDs, domestic abuse, losing homes to fire etc , where she was on call often six days a week, 24 hours a day.
My parents live on a small farm and if an animal is labouring, or simply ill, she'll stay with it through the night in the hope it will lessen it's suffering. In short, if she can help someone in any way, she's there.
As a Mum, she has been just as unconditionally dedicated (she is the only one in the real world who has accepted my phobia and gone to great lengths to find ways to help others with emet. I only ever see her cross when she witnesses bullying or abuse and even then it doesn't look like anger to anyone else! Anyway, I'm sounding boastful when really I hope to share a little of who she is, but I will get to the point.
In short, her ability to do every day things is becoming increasingly compromised by this stupid disease and it hurts so much to see her like this, a good example, I guess, of bad things happening to good people. She can no longer write, walk normally, sit, or stand without concentrating, or put on her clothes without a great deal of effort. The worst bit for her is that she is deeply uncomfortable with being fussed over/centre of attention and now that her condition is obvious to the public, people (all in good intention) go out of their way to help her, and nearly a week ago she said to me "Don, the worst part about this disease is being pitied. The biggest joy in my life is making other people feel good and now, whenever I try, people turn around, look at me, and take care of me instead and although on one level, I know what they feel, the one thing that gives me the most happiness is gone, I can't do it anymore".
I have not shown her how much this whole thing hurt me until then, and although I have looked up how to stop tears when you don't want them to show (the secret is to look up and hold your breath, and the bridge of your nose, and it really does work!), I made a stupid sobbing noise, and then broke for the first time in front of her.
After trawling the internet thoroughly, and regularly, the only treatment that people had tried that had a good success rate is a type of 'Self donating' Stem Cell treatment where the patient uses either their own Stem Cells, or those of a blood relative which, amongst other positives, means less chance of immune rejection.
There, at last, seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. We contacted various clinics with the same results, this treatment has had incredible results with Parkinson's patients, but comes with a hefty price tag. The only likely chance of stopping, or even slowing Mums disease in it's tracks was going to cost around $30,000.
As seems to happen these days, the only avenue left for someone whose life was quickly deteriorating, meant handing over big money, which my brother and I simply don't have, as we also have a son with a serious ongoing medical condition, and Daniel, my younger brother is bringing up a new family. Due to my phobia, and subsequent fear of going out or socializing (aside of going out with my Mum or husband), I have few people to call on for help and so, it is with a lot of trepidation, and embarrassment, that I ask for your help.
My girls, Greta (9), and Julia (6), who are very, very close to their Nana, and I between us, have started a fundraiser to try to gather enough money to send Mum for treatment. I have been informed, however, that until we raise $100, they will not list our pledge on their site, (I am imagining it's to increase traffic to the site), but all the pledges that are already there are raising so much!!).
So here I am, an agoraphobic, emetophobic, without, even close to enough close contacts to raise this donation because of my inability to socialize, asking, from the bottom of my heart, please help us reach just $100 so that our pledge can be open to the public for help. If you've read this far, thank you so much for your patience, and for those who can donate, WITHOUT sacrificing money you cannot afford, (because Mum wouldn't want that) please follow the link below. Big hugs to you all! May your year be absolutely V free!
Feel free to share this on Facebook! We can't go public until we reach the required $100 minimum.
http://gogetfunding.com/project/good...-a-good-person
Donna. XxX
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