Momma K's Vacay Fund

My stepmother, Kathy Parchia Flemming, was by my father's side as he took his last breath on March 21st. It had been ten months and two days since he suffered a massive stroke that left him debilitated, unable to even speak.

On the evening of May 19th, 2014, not long before having the stroke, Daddy, the Reverend Joseph Flemming, while at a church function honoring his wife, publicly proclaimed his love for God first, and Kathy, second. It would be the last time she would hear him say he loved her.

Despite a valiant fight, Daddy, after numerous surgeries on his skull, brain and other organs, never recovered. His kidneys failed and he began to receive thrice-weekly dialysis, which led to a number of blood transfusions. The tracheotomy that was placed to assist with breathing led to numerous infections, including repeated bouts of pneumonia. He was admitted to many hospitals, rehabilitation centers and a nursing home in at least three different counties in New Jersey.

Throughout every step of the way, she was there, meeting with surgeons, doctors, nurses, social workers and administrative staff. There  were hours-long phone conversations with health insurance companies and Medicare, topped off with long nights dozing on hard, plastic hospital chairs. She wanted to be by his side.

After months of this, I asked her to stay home more. By the fall, the insurance company forced him to be moved to a nursing home ninety miles south of where we live. She would firmly and resolutely shake her head in the negative and say, "Your father needs me". 

By the time Daddy passed, she had driven thousands of miles, and stressed had caused her to lose a considerable amount of weight. Even still, she maintained her duties as co-pastor of Apostolic Outreach Christian Center, a District Elder in New Jersey as part of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., and as a loving daughter, sister, mother, aunt and grandmother. And of course, she did with impeccably applied makeup and killer style. ;-)

I'm now asking for help to raise funds for Momma K to go on a getaway. Where will be up to her, although I say someplace warm, sunny and tropical! Just as she exemplified sacrificial love for my Daddy, I'm calling for us to show her love!