Adopt a Stocking: Mother of 2 hopes injury doesn’t ruin Christmas

LIMA — Jessica is raising her two daughters by herself.

But since she had to quit working her factory job due to a wrist injury that will require three pins put into it, she does not know how Christmas will be possible for Katie, 9, and Jamie, 5 months.

“If the kids are happy, not so much Jamie because she’s only five months old, but for Katie, I just hope she’s happy and has a good Christmas,” said Jessica, holding the baby in her arms on her couch. “Just because I’m not working right now, I hope it doesn’t have to affect her. I hope she can still have a good holiday.”

But because of one fateful accident, in which Jessica used her dominant wrist to break a fall while moving a bed down her stairs, this might be in jeopardy.

“I’m right-handed,” she said. “And you use your hand for everything. The doctors wanted to put it in a cast, but that would have been too hard because I couldn’t bathe Jamie. So they gave me an air cast and that’s still hard because I have to put it on and take it off. Things are hard to do with it on and if I don’t have it on, my wrist hurts. And then I can’t work with it on so I need to figure out how soon I could get in for surgery.”

But Jessica is determined for her daughters to have a good Christmas, even if they would be happy with anything.

“Katie is a big-hearted kid anyway so she’s very thankful,” said Jessica. “She’s very thankful and she appreciates anything really. You could give her the same coloring book and she’ll act like it’s the world to her. I’m glad she’s like that and she’s a humble kid and not one that acts like it isn’t enough. I’m happy that she’s not like that.”

And with the help of any readers and the Salvation Army, this might be possible.

“She’s really not picky,” said Jessica. “She likes crafty stuff to make other things out of and then she also likes Hot Wheels.”

In addition to Christmas presents, Jessica also said that she needs help with rent and that help of any sort would mean the world to her.

“It would mean a lot to me,” she said. “I’m already struggling enough, but at least then the kids could have a good holiday.”

And she is already grateful for the chance for help, provided by the Salvation Army and its Adopt-a-Stocking program.

“Without this, I really didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said. “I’m very thankful about that. And I had signed up on the last day so I thought I missed it. I was stressed out even worse because I thought I missed the sign-up.”

Jessica even was happy to know that the community would be willing to help out.

“Everybody goes through a tough time,” she said. “It’s not something that anybody intends, but it’s nice that the community or others can come together and help out. Because it’s not the child’s fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not like I intentionally made this happen. But we’ve got to come together as a community and it actually helps because you never know when you’re going to be the one in that tough time.”

ADOPT A STOCKING

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 Jacob Espinosa at 567-242-0399.