Help Open the Doors to Hope!

Hi All,

My name is Tracey. I’m usually pulling my hair out. I became a caregiver for my dad and I am so overwhelmed. The picture of me is at Hope Grows in one of their healing gardens. This is about the only break I get, when I come to Hope Grows, the gardens are amazing and so is their support. They have been there for me and are now opening the doors for caregivers, like me, to receive help and provide a break away overnight. They need your support to continue.

My Story:

We became a family of three after my mother passed away to breast cancer at just 48 years old. My father raised my brother and myself on his own the best way he could. As the years went on, I had a daughter, got married, and began my academic career towards becoming a therapist.

It was just another day when I got a phone call from my father that would change everything. He said that he had lost feeling on his right side and he was taking himself to the hospital. Panicked, I quickly went to the hospital and met him in the emergency department. It was then I learned that he was having a stroke. Confused and scared, he leaned on me to make the decision of administering the medication to clear the blockage in his brain. Weighing my options, I chose to go ahead with the medication. Luckily, we were in the window where the doctors believed it would work with minimal brain damage. Unfortunately, he was left with a significant loss of his ability to speak clearly.

This was when I became the caregiver.

And then, two years later, he suffered a post stroke grand-mal seizure. This seizure led to more smaller seizures which kept him in the hospital for two and half weeks in the height of COVID-19. My caregiving duties were then amplified. Due to COVID restrictions, he was only allowed one support person in the hospital. I became that support for him. From that point on, my life changed once again: medication management, doctor appointments, in-home health, being a personal driver, grocery store trips, financial management, and constant check-ins all while raising a 5-year-old, going to graduate school full time, and working part time. I’m utterly mentally and physically exhausted. What I really could use is an overnight break away from it all, where help and support is available.

Here’s the good news...

Hope Grows – a nonprofit organization that provides mental health and emotional support for family caregivers – is in the process of getting the doors open to the Iris Respite House, a unique overnight place, designed specifically to give caregivers the break and support they need and deserve.

However, for Hope Grows to be able to open the doors of the Iris Respite House, they need to raise the money to complete the renovation process. The fundraising events they counted on were hit hard by the pandemic and they need your help.

The Hope Grows Iris Respite House will help to create a lifeline for caregivers like me and so many others who are struggling every day caring for their loved ones. Please consider donating, every little bit helps, so that Hope Grows can open the doors to the Iris Respite House in the Spring of 2022.

Some Facts

1 in 5 Americans is a caregiver. And the number of caregivers who are struggling - mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially - is growing. If you have ever been a Caregiver, know a Caregiver, were a Caregiver or Are you receiving Care, you understand the STRESS, STRAIN and DEMANDS! If you are not? I am hoping that you will consider helping caregivers like me.

Who is Hope Grows

Hope Grows has been serving the caregiver community for 10 years, providing counseling and support, therapeutic respite, and education and training, all at little to no cost to the caregivers they help. Last year alone, through in-person and virtual programs, they helped more than 700 caregivers! This years number is still climbing, with providing to support to almost 1,000 caregivers.

www.hopegrows.net