Adopt A Stocking: Mom dealing with four kids and life

LIMA — Elaina is raising four kids. She and two of her sons have a hereditary disease, Charcot Marie Tooth disorder.

Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT) is a hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy of the peripheral nervous system characterized by progressive loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation across various parts of the body. There is no known cure. Care focuses on maintaining function. CMT was previously classified as a subtype of muscular dystrophy.

So life has thrown her a curve ball. She deals with it.

The four kids are ages 12, 10, 8, and 6. The 10-year-old contracted pneumonia and was treated in Toledo. He now is using a BiPAP machine and oxygen at night. It has taken a while for him to get adjusted to the machine. He now knows how to turn on the machine and put it on by himself. But he is sleeping on the couch for the time being. Elaina, whose bedroom is downstairs, needs to hear whether the machine is working correctly.

Elaina, her youngest and her eight-year-old have CMT. It limits her ability to go upstairs to the three upstairs bedrooms. So when the laundry is done, each child has a basket of clothes that is their responsibility to put away. It’s not an ideal plan, but she deals with it.

Elaina says that all the kids need clothes: “They’ve grown like crazy.” Her daughter, who is 12, is wearing adult medium for shirts and prefers leggings or sweatpants that are also adult medium. The 10-year-old prefers sweatpants as well. “I can’t get him to put jeans on for nothing!” His size is a 14/16. He also has a need for underwear. The eight-year-old is in a 10/12 and the six-year-old is also in a 10/12 for both pants and shirts.

The daughter would like craft items. The 10-year-old found an LED light at the Dollar Store so anything that lights up would be good for him. He also likes to do hands-on things, so anything that he could put together would be great. The eight-year-old is obsessed with basketball and football right now. The six-year-old loves Paw Patrol.

Elaina’s youngest is currently being tested for autism. Yet another curve thrown in her life. But she is dealing with it.

The Adopt a Stocking Fund benefits families during the holiday season. Monetary donations can be given online at give.salvationarmy.org/stocking or via Adopt A Stocking; c/o The Salvation Army; P.O. Box 234, Lima, OH 45801. All material donations for a specific family should be dropped off at the Salvation Army, 614 E. Market St., Lima, and should include a copy of the article or the date the story appeared in The Lima News. See past stories at LimaOhio.com/tag/stocking.

Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409

Dean Brown
Dean Brown joined The Lima News in 2022 as a reporter. Prior to The Lima News, Brown was an English teacher in Allen County for 38 years, with stops at Perry, Shawnee, Spencerville and Heir Force Community School. So they figured he could throw a few sentences together about education and business in the area. An award-winning photographer, Brown likes watching old black and white movies, his dog, his wife and kids, and the four grandkids - not necessarily in that order. Reach him at [email protected] or 567-242-0409.