LIMA — Single mom, Barbara, 34, wants her three children ages 6, 10 and 11, to have a better Christmas.
Barbara lives with James, 31, a type 1 diabetic who was recently in the hospital.
She works at a local nursing home. He can’t work and has applied for disability.
“About eight months ago I started losing a lot of weight. I was weighing 160 to 170 to now I weigh 115 pounds. I was throwing up all of the time and I was real nauseous and I kept on going in and out of the hospital and they didn’t know what was wrong,” James said.
They removed his gallbladder, and while that helped for a while, it wasn’t the underlying cause of his health problems.
“About a month ago my sugars just started dropping, like just like real fast. I woke up a couple of times in the hospital because my sugar had went down to the 20s,” James said.
Luckily it was a day that Barbara stayed home from work because their car broke down, needing a new transmission.
“If she had went to work I’d be dead right now,” he added.
His diabetic doctor ran tests that resulted in the diagnosis of Addison’s Disease, a disease that affects his adrenal system.
As you might guess, the medical bills have piled up, they can barely afford their rent of $725 per month, and they just got a disconnect notice from the power company.
“It’s just been one blow after another blow. I’m glad he’s out of the hospital and better, but we’re really struggling,” Barbara said.
Richard, 11, has asked Santa for a new bike, a Nerf N-Strike Elite Raptor Strike, Lego City Police High Speed Chase, a television and dresser for his room, a Googly Eyes board game and a new beginners acoustic guitar, preferably black. He could also use shirts and pants (size 11/12) and shoes (size 5 youth).
Reagan, Barbara’s 10-year-old daughter, would like a new bike, a LOL Big Surprise Doll, Fingerling (monkey or unicorn), Shopkins Super Mall, Pie Face Skyhigh game, Zoomer Zoomer Show Pony with Sounds and a new beginners guitar (pink). she also needs shirts (size 8 through 10), pants (size 9/10), and shoes (size 1 to 1 1/2).
Justin, Barbara’s 6-year-old, would like Santa to bring him a new bike, an Etch-a-Sketch Freestyle, a kitchen play set, a Gooey Louie Game, a television and dresser for his room and a new beginners acoustic guitar (blue). He’s also asking Santa for new shirts and pants (size 6/7) and new shoes (size 11/12).
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