Help for Irene & Harold Childress

Just like any story it’s best to start at the beginning. This story is about a wonderful woman named, Irene Childress, or Red to the ones that know here best. There is so much that can be said about our sweet mom. Anyone who has ever met her knows how special and amazing she truly is. Her entire life she went out of her way to help others when she could barely help herself. She has always been such a bright light, but that light is fading.

Mom married the love of her life in 1965. She worked at the court house and the sheriffs department but finally found her calling teaching children with learning disabilities at the elementary school level. After 40yrs she finally retired in 2011. While most people look forward to retirement, traveling, and spending time with grandkids, life decided to throw her a curve ball.

The love of her life was diagnosed with a form of Neuropathy, that would progressively take away his ability to walk and his vision to decline. There is no cure for this disease and he stays in pain. If that wasn’t bad enough 2yrs later he was told that a brain tumor developed in the front lobe. Mom became his full time caregiver.

Fast forward to March 2023, mom was nauseated all the time and could not walk straight. We took her to the ER and after many agonizing test we were told the worse news possible that she also has a brain tumor. A biopsy was performed on May 12th and those results showed she had a grade 3 glioblastoma. The tumor can’t be removed and there is no cure. The only way to maintain it is with chemotherapy and radiation. She has not been the same since the biopsy and has become weaker.

She went through 6 weeks of chemo and radiation and went from 110lbs to 85lbs. Watching her slowly deteriorate has left us heartbroken. The tumor left her with limited mobility.

Last week she took a pretty bad fall and broke her hip. Watching her yell in pain until the ambulance took her is a memory we wish to forget. After the surgery she crashed several times. It was touch and go for awhile. She is stable now, but has a long road of healing on top of managing the tumor.

After praying over this we decided we can’t keep doing this alone. We have never been the type of people to ask for help, but we desperately need it. We couldn’t believe the things Medicare refuses to pay for. They wouldn’t even give her a wheelchair.

It is definitely not easy asking for help and we completely understand if you can’t donate. I know everyone is going through hard times right now, especially in this expensive world we are living in.

What are the odds of having two disabled parents and both with brain tumors? I think we all ask the question, “why me” God? After a couple of weeks go by and asking God why over and over mom looked over at us one day and she said, “ you know I asked God why me, and as I look around the waiting room at all these other sick people suffering I realized, why not me? I am no more special than anyone else in this room or the world. Things just happen. Life‘s circumstances are not always fair. Bad things just happen to us all. Just don’t ever lose faith and never stop praying.”

By contributing you are helping Irene and her families immediate needs of gas, transportation, food, and medical supplies. As well as our ever-changing and ongoing needs of chemo, radiation, medication, and the uphill battle that they will inevitably face.

Thank you for your consideration, and supporting Irene and her husband Harold on this journey of healing and Hope. Please share and please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.