A Mother's Love

Renette Barnett, or Nettie to those that know her best, is known by many and loved by all.  To those of us who have been blessed to know and love her most, she is known by mom. Mom has always been a free spirit, friendly, generous and creative. She is best known for her love of creating and designing things. As the creator of Netties Gnomes, she was the queen of all little things and created many dolls for all to enjoy. She is also the artist and muralist extraordinaire. She had an affinity for flower gardening and interior design -- creating beautiful spaces for all to enjoy.  There is no end to her creative genius.

Her best and most favorite creation, however, is her children. Mom taught us all with love and tenderness. She was the fun mom and soon became the fun grandma. Mom has been married to her sweetheart, Kevin for 41 years, he has been her greatest support and caregiver throughout this hardship. She is the mother of six very accomplished children and grandmother to ten grandbabies with one more on the way. Her family is her greatest joy. More than anything she loved to spend time with all of us and wished she could continue to see her family mature. Her greatest desire was to see her three youngest children get married and continue to be a grandmother.

All this began to change about four years ago when she was initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Although this is typically a slow degenerative disease, we discovered she rapidly began to lose her mobility and control over her bodily functions. This caused us to question her diagnosis and we had a feeling she had a different disease altogether. After several visits to different specialists and exhausting all resources, we came to discover she had a very rare neurological disease called MSA or multiple system atrophy.

MSA is a progressive degenerative neurological disease which has widespread effects on the brain and body. MSA effects voluntary and involuntary body functions.

This MSA diagnosis was a devastating blow to both her and our family. The disease progression took on a course of rapid deterioration.  She quickly lost her ability to walk. She had uncontrolled low blood pressure and she was unable to continue her favorite creative activities. She became bed bound and required a ventilator to breathe and relied on family and professional help for her daily living.

Frequent hospitalizations and extensive care at home has created a large financial burden. Mom is also now at the end of her life. She is not expected to live much longer.  She now relies on a feeding tube to eat in addition to her ventilator. The love for her is felt by many, and many have asked what they can do to support the family. She is beloved and we are kindly asking for your consideration in assisting with medical bills and burial expenses. Please donate in support of Nettie and her family. Thank you so much for loving our Mama as much as we do.