Kingdom Assignment 2 | Donations to 21 Organizations
Medical Help for Two Individuals
From the Kingdom Assignment 2 offering and matching grant effort, $4,000 was set aside to assist individuals beyond our congregation who were experiencing serious health care issues and related financial hardships.
To identify individuals in need, we worked with Linda Langmore, MSW at the St. Joseph Mercy Cancer Care Center. Linda connected us with two women, Julie and Camille. Church member Joy Stair served as our main contact with these two courageous women, and both Julie and Camille have given us their permission to share their stories with our congregation:
While battling Lymphoma, Julie also faced foreclosure. She lost her home and as a result, she moved in with her step sister and needed to rent a storage unit for her belongings. Through the Kingdom Assignment 2 funds, we were able to assist her with six months of rent for the storage unit, as well as helping her with other bills that she had gotten behind on including her car payment, phone and utility bills. Julie’s other needs included just having cash on hand for groceries and gas, so we were able to get grocery and gas cards through our church’s SCRIP program and Julie is using them to help with her living expenses. During the course of our helping her, Julie faced a reoccurrence of her Lymphoma and thus still has many challenges ahead of her. In early August, she met with Pastor Melanie and Joy Stair and expressed her gratitude for our congregation’s help. She is so very grateful to each and every member of our church and for the Kingdom Assignment 2, which has assisted her beyond what words can express.
Below is a letter from Camille Ziegler, whom we assisted with her COBRA health insurance payment.
Dear Joy
Per my conversation with you today, I am sending you the bill I received from SHPS, IBS/Cobra Operations today. My health insurance coverage will be retroactive so my bill for my chemotherapy on 7/25/08 will be covered and anything else that was billed by St. Joe’s Hospital. It usually runs about $5,000 total for lab, chemo and all the materials needed, and I go twice a month.
No words can convey the gratitude that my family and I feel toward you and your congregation, and Linda and Dr. Chottiner for all the help and concern you have given me. After my husband lost his job at Lear Corporation, an auto supplier affected by the American Axle strike, we knew the insurance would expire 6/30/08. The only way I could continue chemo was to apply for the Cobra via Lear Corporation. Though it is expensive it is worth every penny, so long as I can continue my therapy and doctor visits, and have peace of mind that if something happens I am covered.
Just a little about myself, I am 49 years old (will be 50 on 9/25) and my wonderful husband, Bob, who has been there by my side since I was diagnosed on 1/25/07 with stage 4 breast cancer. I had been sick off and on in the fall of 2006, working long hours doing tax refund loans for H & R Block in Monroe, MI.
I thought I had the flu and complained of severe stomach pains and pain in my right shoulder and side. Bob took me to the emergency room at Monroe Mercy Hospital, where they did blood work and checked my liver and then scheduled me the next day for a liver biopsy, which was very damaged by breast cancer. They then checked my breast and found and removed a tumor.
Monroe Mercy sent me via ambulance to Toledo Hospital where I underwent intense chemotherapy. After weeks, I was so ill, and had so many side effects from the chemo, they suggested to Bob that I go into hospice.
He took me home. So, I could be with my children, Jozef who was 12 at the time and Jessica who was 10. My mother-in-law nursed me and took care of me and the kids for months, and I continued chemo on a weekly basis.
I was getting sicker and losing weight rapidly; I had lost all my hair, my nails on my toes and hands, and my skin was peeling off. I was taken to the ER on numerous occasions due to dehydration, where I stayed in isolation due to my weakened immune system. I had thrush of the mouth and couldn’t eat or keep food down. One day I was so weak and we were going to the ER in Monroe when Bob said, I’m taking you to St. Joe’s in Ann Arbor. And that is where I stayed for about a week and Dr. Chottiner came in to see me. Her opinion was grim but I didn’t want to give up.
And so, another battle began. But this time it was different. I began to feel good for the first time in a long time, what my family and I have prayed for so long. Something was working. And, here I am. Curly hair and all (I used to have to get perms but not anymore!)
So thank you so very much for thinking of me and helping out with the insurance. God bless you, Linda, Dr. Chottiner and all the nurses at St. Joe’s for being there for me, and special thanks to the members of First United Methodist Church of Ypsilanti.
Sincerely,
Camille Marie Uroda-Ziegler and Family
