Woman w/ Endo struggling not to lose home

Holiday Wishes: Family hopes for a new home by Christmas
By Molly Millett
Pioneer Press
Updated: 12/12/2008 01:08:58 PM CST

“Everything that is wrong with our economy right now has happened to me. It wasn’t like I got one problem, I got all the problems at once,” said Edna-Jo Hill, a single mom.

“My problems started five years ago. I was lying in bed one morning, feeling more tired than normal. I thought, ‘I have got to drag myself out of bed so I can get ready for work.’ Well, I made it as far as the foot of the bed, and then I collapsed. My whole left side was paralyzed. I was 41.

“My son, who was 5 at the time, was the only one in the house with me. Thank God that I did not go totally unconscious. He got the phone for me, and I was able to dial 911. I think what saved me was that we lived only a block from the Fire Department. They got me to the ER within 20 minutes.

“I was told that I had suffered a mini-stroke, a small blood clot in the brain. My prognosis, after physical therapy and rehab, was very good as far as day-to-day functioning goes, but I could no longer push myself physically, mentally and emotionally like I was used to doing.

“That meant I could no longer live in the 100-year-old house that I was fixing up. So I sold the house and moved to a town home, where I didn’t have to do any major repairs. But that was the beginning of the end because it was more money and I was already on a tight budget. As everyday expenses increased — groceries, gas — that added to my problems.

“I believe that part of the reason I had the stroke was that I was on the
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birth-control pill because I had a lot of female problems, like fibroid tumors and endometriosis. But after a stroke, you can’t take hormones anymore. So my problems came back, and I had to have a hysterectomy. (Due to complications from that procedure,) I ended up having to have more surgery — emergency surgery — and I was in the hospital for three weeks.

“By this point, I had taken a loan out against my 401(k) and maxed out my credit cards and was just trying to stay current with them and my mortgage, my association fees and my medical bills. Actually, I had really good health insurance, but it only covered 90 percent of my bills, and by this time I already had $30,000 in medical bills and 10 percent of that is quite a lot.

“After I got out of the hospital, I was grateful to be alive, but emotionally, physically, mentally and financially, I was ruined. I worked an administrative job, and I had to take off eight weeks for recovery and was down to 50 percent a paycheck.

“Because I had gotten behind on my mortgage, my house went into foreclosure at the end of 2007. I made a six-month payment arrangement and hoped I would be able to keep my home. But in April, I was laid off from my job. So, when my agreement ended, I couldn’t make any more arrangements because I didn’t have a job, and the foreclosure picked up where it left off. (By the way, I had a really good mortgage with really good terms.)

“I felt like my only option is to let the bank have my home. It would have taken a miracle to sell it and break even in this market. The guy who brought the papers, he was nice enough. He apologized and said he was sorry I had to go through it and he understands how it was. My home went to a sheriff’s sale at the end of August. After the sheriff’s sale, you have six months to vacate. So right now, I’m trying to find another place to live.

“I do have a lot of extended family, but nobody is really in a position to help me out. A lot of them are struggling, too.

“I’m just sick that I can’t provide what I feel like I should have been able to provide my son, who I adopted as a single mom. This isn’t what I had planned for him. I want to be able to pay off my debts and get out from under this mess, so I can be back to the happy person I used to be.

“I plan to go back to college in January to get my associate’s degree in computer networking. I also am working again. I found a job as an office manager, but it’s only 35 hours a week and I’m making $10,000 less than I used to. At least I can fill my prescriptions again.

“My son, David, he’s 10 and in the fifth grade and his holiday wishes are to get a pet bird, like a parakeet, and a Wii (gaming system) for us to play together. My holiday wish is to find an affordable place for us to live. With my credit history, though, it’s going to be tough.

“Some of the (landlords) I call are sympathetic, others are not and tell me not to even bother coming. The ones that are sympathetic, well, they’re not the ones making the decisions — my application goes to management companies. Part of the problem is that I can’t afford to just apply to a bunch of places and see what happens, because each one has an application fee. I’ve got to pick one place and see if that works out before I go on to the next one.

“If I were a man, I would describe this time in my life, losing my home, as emasculating. I don’t know another word to describe the feeling. I had a middle-class job, I had money, I was able to take my son on vacations. I never had to worry about money. I’ve always taken care of myself.

“My son, he’s stressed out by all this, too, which I hate to see. But how can you tell your kid that everything is going to be OK when you don’t believe it and you know that it’s not?”

What Is Holiday Wishes?

Holiday Wishes is a Pioneer Press/United Way program that raises money for needy local families. The Pioneer Press shares the families’ stories — and their hopes for the holiday season. Greater Twin Cities United Way gives you a way to help make the families’ wishes come true. For information, call 651-290-4590 starting Monday.

The Hill Family’s Holiday Wishes

• Target, Wal-Mart and gasoline gift cards.
• Gymnastics classes for David, 10.
• A professional’s assistance in organizing and holding an estate sale.

How Hill Was Chosen

Edna-Jo Hill was nominated for Holiday Wishes by Kelly Coughlan, a career and work services manager for WomenVenture.

“She obviously has a lot of needs, but she is highly motivated and internally driven and those are the people who will be successful in our program,” Coughlan said.

That program is called “Women Can Do It!” and involves helping low-income women get into high-paying careers in nontraditional fields.

Hill is interested in an information technology career, and she plans to begin attending Minneapolis Community and Technical College in 2009. If she isn’t eligible for grants through the state or at a federal level, WomenVenture has a grant program that will cover the first year of her schooling. Through WomenVenture, Hill and other women receive job readiness training as well as a free year of life coaching.

“A lot of these women don’t have anyone cheerleading them in their lives — they have no support system whatsoever, and so the life coach not only holds them accountable, but they also are there to say, ‘Yes, you can do it,’ ” Coughlan said. “In Edna’s case, she doesn’t sit down and cry about her situation. Instead, she gets herself to work every single day and she’s preparing to go to school.”

To learn about the program, go to womenventure.org.

How To Contribute

Send a check payable to United Way Holiday Wishes — along with a personal note to the family, if you’d like — to Holiday Wishes, c/o Greater Twin Cities United Way, 404 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis, MN 55404-1084. Secure online donations may be made at unitedwaytwincities.org.

Other donations accepted: Donate furniture and household goods by calling Bridging Inc. at 651-631-3255. Bridging, a nonprofit organization that helps families in transition, reports that needs are up and that it specifically needs donations of pots and pans, and pillows and blankets. To learn more about how to donate, go to bridging.org.

Holiday Wishes’ donation guidelines: Donations by check or credit card are preferred; furniture and household goods in good condition also will be accepted. You are asked not to buy the family’s specific wish list but rather to donate money to the program so families can purchase the items they need most in the correct sizes. Checks made out to individuals cannot be accepted. Personal notes to the families will be considered for publication in the Pioneer Press along with your name. If you are donating furniture or household goods, let Bridging and/or United Way know you are donating to Holiday Wishes.