A perfect Christmas for the Travises would be the promise of a warm home with three bedrooms by New Year’s.
One that they could own. That doesn’t have holes in the floor. No three-inch gap under the door, letting in the freezing air.
A real home — not the trailer they currently live in that will become uninhabitable this winter, or their grandmother’s home. Four people would have to divide the small two-bedroom household since their grandmother, 69-year-old Mary Hardesty, was diagnosed with lung cancer two weeks ago.
Erin Travis, 39-year-old mother of two, is certainly trying her best to get the job done.
Two years ago, a car struck her while horseback riding in Arizona. The horse landed on her body and crushed her skull. She was in a coma for 15 days, during which her landlord stole her possessions out of her trailer.
Her sister, Lisa Roberts, director of the Friends and Neighbors Community Food Center in Coolville, flew across the country to help her.
Erin is now able to walk normally with the help of a physical therapist, and her brain swelling has come down since the accident, though she still suffers from memory loss. She is unable to work and is now getting by on social security checks — as little as $500 a month.
Her newfound disabilities, her sister said, are like a gaping wound that won’t heal.
“I don’t remember a lot of things anymore,” Erin said. “It’s all hazy.”
For her 20-year-old son, Christopher, being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a little over a year ago salted that wound.
Christopher was diagnosed with diabetes when he was 15 years old, which led to a tumor forming on his pancreas. He had to be taken to Columbus to have surgery at Ohio State University, and Erin said he has been put into intensive care at least monthly.
He has to test his blood sugar 10-12 times a day, Roberts said, and requires a new insulin pump that Medicaid won’t even begin to cover, as well as a pancreatic transplant.
“He has to be five years cancer free just to get the transplant,” Roberts said, adding that Christopher is out of the hospital for now. “This week, we’re lucky. With him we never know what’s going to happen.”
Because of Erin’s disabilities and Christopher’s cancer and diabetes, the family has to use its sparse social security checks for gas just to get to and from doctors appointments.
“When you have two disabled people in the home, all of your resources get sucked up,” Roberts said. “Every month, Erin has to go to the regular doctor, brain specialist, Morgantown and then bloodwork and physical therapy. Christopher has the diabetes and cancer doctor.”
Nothing pains Erin more than seeing her children in this situation, she said. Her 15-year-old son Michael channels his stress into building a go-kart.
“You have to keep a strong face,” Erin said. “Sometimes they can read right through me. With the go-karts, Michael can just be a boy.”
Around Christmas, Erin said keeping that strong face is difficult.
She said she often feels depressed and inadequate, though her boys never peep a word of wanting more than they can afford.
Even buying a new home will take every penny she has, and there is no promise that will even be enough. The most important part, she said, is keeping the family together and happy.
Michael, Erin’s “little man,” has been helping his mother find a place for them to live.
“There has been a lot of ups and downs, but I get over it. It’s kind of an uphill battle,” he said, adding that his dream Christmas involves a warm house for his family.
“And a go-kart, I need a go-kart,” he joked.
Erin said having a home by Christmas would mean weight off her shoulders — one fewer thing to deal with in a home stricken with disability and illness.
“It would take off so much stress,” she said. “My dream is just a three-bedroom.”
eo300813@ohiou.edu
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How To Help: — Michael is asking for toiletries, such as body wash, shampoo or deodorant. Erin would like clothes, such as jeans or shirts. She wears a 7/8 long in jeans, extra large shirts. The Travises would like monetary contributions totaling $1,500 for a new home.
