Posted on 08/11/2004 1:21:47 AM PDT by phenn
GREENSBORO -- Vicky Pina wants your thoughts, prayers and what ever change you can spare.
She's one of the scores of single moms who manages to hold everything together as long as nothing goes wrong.
On July 26 things went terribly wrong. Now she's looking for help wherever she can get it.
Cyndee Engelskirchen, Pina's 20-year-old daughter, was on the back of a moped that ran a red light at a busy Greensboro intersection and hit a sports utility vehicle.
The driver of the moped, Jennifer McNeil Byrnes, 24, of 203-A Wilson Street, was charged with running a red light and drunken driving.
Byrnes, who shares an apartment with Engelskirchen, was treated for injuries at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital and released.
Engelskirchen, though, suffered a fractured skull and other injuries and has been in a coma at Moses Cone Hospital ever since.
Doctors don't know when she'll come out. And when she does, they don't know what condition she'll be in.
So Pina, who lives in Concord with her three younger children -- ages 7, 9 and 13 -- has spent the last two weeks caring for her daughter as best she can while doing her best for her three youngest 90 minutes away.
She's spent most days since the wreck in a third-floor waiting room at Cone just down the hall from the intensive care room where her daughter is attached by wires and hoses to machines that monitor her and keep her alive.
For folks from out of town, tending to loved ones during extended hospital stays is expensive. There are hotel rooms to pay for, food and gas to buy.
Pina, 42, a teacher assistant in Cabarrus County's Head Start program, brings home $1,000 a month for the 10- month school year. She doesn't get paid unless she's working and she doesn't get paid at all during the summer.
"I just try to bend and stretch and get through the summer without anything being cut off," Pina said.
She cuts corners everywhere possible. Nearby was a mashed loaf of bread she'd been carrying around. In her purse was a jar of peanut butter and a bag of turkey cold cuts that hadn't been refrigerated in a while.
Pina's ex-husband has pitched in to cover the house payment. With food stamps she's been able to feed her three children back home. Her mom has agreed to take care of the children while she's gone. And older daughter Melissa Engelskirchen has spent a lot of time at the hospital with her, running errands.
"Me and my family need a lot prayers," Pina said. "It's just a real difficult time for everyone."
For most of the past two weeks area churches have chipped in for hotel rooms for Pina and her daughter. That has run out, though, and they spent Monday night in the hospital waiting room.
They may spend more nights there until space opens up in the Marilyn House, a nearby home owned by Wendover Avenue Church of Christ. Family of patients needing critical care can stay there free. Pina and her daughter are next on the list.
While the hospital doesn't keep track of people in Pina's situation, the house, which can accommodate up to three families, usually stays full during the high-travel summer months, a Cone official said.
Most family members, like Pina, don't have the money to cover lengthy stays.
State Street Church of God at 200 State St. is accepting donations for Pina and her family. Pina has handed out several posters, mostly to churches. They picture her daughter laid up in her hospital room and include the church's address and phone number.
"I would say it's a very desperate situation and they could take all the help they could get," said the Rev. Avon Craven of State Street Church of God.
Pina said she'll apply for Medicaid to cover her daughter's hospital stay, but wonders what will happen after she's well enough to leave the hospital.
"Let's say she needs long term rehabilitation," she said. "What do I do then? We have no idea what's going to happen when she wakes up."
For now, Pina's just trying to hold her family and her life together.
"I'm supposed to save everybody and I'm just trying to keep myself from collapsing," she said.
Contact Meredith Barkley at mbarkley@news-record.com
Anybody who believes one word Meredith Barkley writes is a fool.
Is it just me, or is it a selfish, stupid choice for a grown woman to ride with a drunk driver on the back of a moped while not wearing a helmet? The real victims here are the three younger siblings left at home with their lives turned upside down.
There oughta be a gov't program for this.
< /sarcasm >
The drunk driver is only mentioned twice - wonder what she's doing to help out?
This was in an information box next to the original article.
>>Want to help?
If you want to help Vicky Pina and her family, contact the Rev. Avon Craven at State Street Church of God, 200 State Street, Greensboro, NC 27408, or call 328-4989.<<
I hope the driver of the moped was insured. Her insurance should be helping out in this case. This is a terrible tragedy, and I hope there is some relief for this mom and her family.
ping!
Evidently the "driver" of the moped isn't insured, so I expect Edwards to show up any day "to help the victim" by suing the SUV driver and anybody connected with the Moses Cone Memorial Hospital. (Then there's the punitive damages for not providing comfy mattresses in their waiting room,...)
As an aside, I want to mention that I AM also praying for the victim. (I suffered a fractured skull as a child. No coma involved, but I know from first-hand experience how serious it can be.)
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