#214 11/29/2007
Ft. Lewis, Wash


My name is Tammy.  We currently live in Ft. Lewis
Washington.My husband just returned from Iraq in may.
We are having a really hard time this year.  I have 4
children.  My boys are 17, 15, and 12 and my daughter
just turned 18 and has a 4 month old premie daughter.

The reason things have been hard this year is in July
my mother passed out at work and we found out that she
has brain and lung cancer.  She had brain surgery and
has been going through radiation and chemo and obviously
she is not able to work.  The dr.s said she would only
be with us for aproximatley 6 months or so.We have used
up ALL of our savings helping her out and trying to make
her last few months comfortable as she had no more income.  

We dont even have the $500 we need for our deductable to 
fix the back windshield for our Expedition.(it broke in
sept and it gets really cold for the kids and especially
the baby)or to replace our washer and dryer that caught
fire a couple of months ago.  We have fallen behind on
all our billsand cant even pay our storage bill and are
looking at loosing our things.

My kids say they will skip christmas as long as grandma
is ok and with us for just one more christmas, but I
dont really want them to have to make that sacrifice.
My mom is under alot of stress knowing that we are
putting out so much money helping her but she does not
know that I am unable to privide christmas to the kids
because of it.

Thank You so much for your time