Tuesday evening we had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful family. Joe & Cindy Haan, their children, and a large extended family. In fact, we liked them so much we decided to adopt them as our own. Let me explain.
Cindy has Pulmonary Hypertension and Limited Scleroderma (or CREST) syndrome. PH is a very rare disorder where the vessels in the lungs are restricted, causing the heart to work overtime pushing blood through the lungs. This causes the right side of her heart to be enlarged from working so hard. Simple things can totally wear her out.
Limited Scleroderma affects the skin. It slowly hardens your skin. Cindy has a lot of trouble with her hands and fingers. She is also having a lot of trouble with her esophagus. She's had multiple surgeries, and will have more.
One of these on its own is enough to slow down or even stop many people. Cindy has both. Neither one of these has a known cure, and Cindy takes @ 20 meds every day. She has 3 wonderful children, ages 5, 7 & 9. This does not give her the luxury to slow down. Clothes get dirty, homework needs to be done, and they need to eat. This is where her family and friends come in.
Tuesday almost 20 of her nearest and dearest came together and made meals for them. Not just a few to get them thru the week, but a LOT. A FREEZER FULL!! These meals will allow Cindy to stop worrying about feeding her family and concentrate on spending quality time with them.
The sight of so many coming together to help someone they care for brought tears to my eyes. And it reinforced the whole reason why I love what I do. THIS is why we are here. To help families. To get to know our community. To make a difference. And Tuesday we did. How cool is that?
So we adopted her. And her family. Anytime someone comes in to make meals for the Haans, we will take 10% off those meals. And anytime someone wants to donate a meal or contribute to their meal fund, we will take 10% off.
To learn more about Cindy's condition phassociation.org is a good start.