Asking for help is very difficult for me; I've never had to rely on charity, and have been fortunate enough to be able to provide for my family up until recently. But now I'm desperate.
Three years ago, my daughter (13 at the time) developed an extremely dangerous eating disorder. We almost lost her. Thankfully, my wife & I decided to go against her pediatrician's terrible advice and take her to MUSC's Children's ER, where they saved her life; she was in organ failure by that time.
From there, we had to take our daughter out of state for intensive Eating Disorder treatment. My wife had to take her to Atlanta and then Dallas for almost a year, and lost her job as a teacher in the process. Like so many other families, our health insurance eventually cut us off, and my wife & daughter returned home. Unfortunately, my daughter was still very sick, and my wife had to stay home with her and homeschool for a year. By then, we could no longer afford COBRA from my wife's job, and our dismal replacement insurance didn't help much with my daughter's treatment. We had to pay out of pocket for most of it.
We'd already gone through our savings while they were in Atlanta and Dallas, paying for short term apartments (charitable homes like Ronald McDonald House were full at the time; there was a huge rise in eating disorders among kids during Covid!) and copays. There was nothing to fall back on when they came back.
I borrowed what I could from my family, but it wasn't much. My wife's parents are deceased, so she couldn't turn to her family. Some friends helped out, thankfully, and we've scraped by until now.
We're a month behind in our rent, and we're facing eviction. Our son, who's living off-campus in Clemson, is also facing eviction because we can't pay his rent, either. We have nothing for Christmas for either of our children.
Before all this happened, we were very involved in our community, and gave back whenever we could. I don't even know how much my wife spent on her underprivileged students over the years, or how much we've donated to needy families.
It's incredibly hard asking for help, but now we have no choice.
Three years ago, my daughter (13 at the time) developed an extremely dangerous eating disorder. We almost lost her. Thankfully, my wife & I decided to go against her pediatrician's terrible advice and take her to MUSC's Children's ER, where they saved her life; she was in organ failure by that time.
From there, we had to take our daughter out of state for intensive Eating Disorder treatment. My wife had to take her to Atlanta and then Dallas for almost a year, and lost her job as a teacher in the process. Like so many other families, our health insurance eventually cut us off, and my wife & daughter returned home. Unfortunately, my daughter was still very sick, and my wife had to stay home with her and homeschool for a year. By then, we could no longer afford COBRA from my wife's job, and our dismal replacement insurance didn't help much with my daughter's treatment. We had to pay out of pocket for most of it.
We'd already gone through our savings while they were in Atlanta and Dallas, paying for short term apartments (charitable homes like Ronald McDonald House were full at the time; there was a huge rise in eating disorders among kids during Covid!) and copays. There was nothing to fall back on when they came back.
I borrowed what I could from my family, but it wasn't much. My wife's parents are deceased, so she couldn't turn to her family. Some friends helped out, thankfully, and we've scraped by until now.
We're a month behind in our rent, and we're facing eviction. Our son, who's living off-campus in Clemson, is also facing eviction because we can't pay his rent, either. We have nothing for Christmas for either of our children.
Before all this happened, we were very involved in our community, and gave back whenever we could. I don't even know how much my wife spent on her underprivileged students over the years, or how much we've donated to needy families.
It's incredibly hard asking for help, but now we have no choice.
The Duke Family still needs us...., organized by Misty Emslie
Hello Friends! I wanted to ask for your help with one of our own. The Duke Family has … Misty Emslie needs your support for The Duke Family still needs us....
gofund.me
