Posted on 09/21/2005 9:32:26 AM PDT by WestTexasWend
GRAND PRAIRIE (AP) - After fleeing Hurricane Katrina and learning their Louisiana home was stewing in foul water, Mike and Sherry Chimento finally found refuge in this Dallas suburb.
Shortly after their arrival, they were hit with a much more painful blow: their 10-year-old son, Drew, was diagnosed with leukemia.
"Now I don't care about my house," said Sherry Chimento, 50, as her son snuggled up to her on a couch in the house they're renting. "He's the man of the hour. "
Before the hurricane hit, the Chimentos left the home they'd lived in for 27 years in Chalmette, just east of New Orleans. They first headed for Tunica, Miss., where they spent five days. Once they realized they wouldn't be able to return home for some time, they set out for Texas, where a relative knew of an available house. Shortly after their Sept. 2 arrival, they noticed Drew was looking pale. Five days later, Drew was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
"I feel like I'm looking in on someone else's life," Sherry Chimento said as she sat in the nearly empty house.
A pediatric oncology social worker at Medical City Children's in Dallas who helps patients and their families deal with a cancer diagnosis said she's never had a situation like this.
"The reality is they had nothing," Lori Dooly said. "The reality is they had five sets of clothes."
So Dooly appealed to co-workers, collecting everything from cash donations to towels to clothes to kitchen utensils. They even donated a television and VCR.
"They haven't asked for anything," she said. She said that she eventually told them that she'd just be saying 'yes' for them and providing donated goods.
"They're just like, 'Whatever. We'll get new stuff, but we have to focus on Drew,' " she said.
I really feel sorry for this family and what they have faced and are still facing. However, watch some DEMwit come along now and say, "It's Bush's fault"!
Too bad that the family did not stay in Tunica. Just a few miles up hy. 61 is the best cancer treatment center in the world for children. St. Jude. Someone with the means should send them to Memphis. Treatment is free and there is pleanty of people that would help take of the family.
How come problems pile on all at once and good things only happen once in a blue moon?
Because of the myopic view we are given of the condition of man. Remember, good news doesn't sell so we are bombarded by mainly bad news. We seldom hear of the good things.
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