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Melanie and her family have been clients for over a year. She has cerebral palsy and was recently diagnosed with scoliosis. She uses a feeding machine, suction machine, nebulizer machine, and medical bed. This year an unexpected turn of events impacted this beautiful family. Melanie was scheduled for surgery to help with her scoliosis and what should have been a 5-day hospital stay in Los Angeles is now a 2-month critical care stay and counting. Her family has been significantly impacted. Not only are they traveling from Santa Maria to Los Angeles with their 2 younger daughters, they are leaving their high school senior at home to continue school.
Their 2 younger daughters are in Los Angeles with them, which means one parent can visit Melanie at a time while the other stays with the girls. The siblings are not allowed in the hospital. This is further complicated because dad needs to work and makes the drive back and forth to Santa Maria each day, meaning that mom cannot be with Melanie until the evening when he returns. This is a dilemma that many families have when their critically ill child is hospitalized.
Hearts Aligned helped this family with rent, gas and grocery cards to assist with their out-of-town expenses. We paid their electricity bill which was very high due to all the machines Melanie uses. Last year we helped them apply for the utility’s CARE program. And now we are working with the family to complete the utility’s Medical Baseline Program application, which ensures the lowest electricity rate due to the medical equipment Melanie relies on at home. This will assist in further reducing their electricity bill.
The family was not anticipating living out of town for 2 months, where dad could not work, so we reached out to our partners at The Starfish Connection, to help this family with another month’s rent and they graciously approved.
With the generous donation from our partners at Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, Easter gift baskets were given to Melanie’s sisters who were very excited to receive them.
This type of support from our community brings more than financial relief, it brings peace of mind during an already overwhelming time. Thank you, Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation and The Starfish Connection!
You can help families with critically ill children in our community by standing together and making a donation today.
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