This section of the website is geared toward helping those in need.
Below you will find a photo and a story that corresponds to those in need of financial assistance.
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Joey Baratta
1989-2009
We report with great sadness that Joey has passed away...
Joey fought a hard fight and he is an inspiration to all of us. Just as Joey fought, so will we to ensure that another child, father, mother, sister, or bother will never have to suffer like so many in this community already have.
We will miss you Joey. You will not be forgotten.
Joey lived in the Acreage and had a Glioblastoma Multiforme (malignant) brain tumor. Joey was only 20 years old.
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The McKee Family
The McKee family is struggling financially and due to a series of unfortunate events, they are in need now more than ever. Below is a message from Jeanette McKee:
My husband was diagnosed with Stage III metastatic tonsil cancer in February of 2009. We spent 4 1/2 months at the Cancer Treatment Center of America in Tulsa, OK. He is 54 years old and has never been sick a day in his life, and all of a sudden he has stage III cancer! He has had a very rough time with treatment. He had 2 respiratory arrests in March of this year. I did CPR the first time and my adopted 5 year old son talked to the 911 operator. He had another respiratory arrest 24hours later at the hospital. I then had him transferred via ambulance with his ventilator from the hospital to the Cancer Treatment Center. He spent 10 days in ICU, but can now breath on his own. He was in such terrible pain that they attached a pain pump to his port (surgically implanted IV access). He ended up have narcotics pumped into his port 24/7. He also had severe narcotic delusions. (to this day he does not even remember being in Oklahoma. He finished his treatment of Monday-Friday radiation (7 weeks) and his weekly chemo. Our 2 adopted kids finished kindergarten in Oklahoma.
We returned to Florida the 2nd week of June. It was very overwhelming to be home. The state of Florida would not assist us with food stamps or with medicaid. We were unable to pay our mortgage and the bank would not work with us. We decided the smart thing to do was move our family. We spent July and August selling, throwing away, giving away and whatever else we could do to make enough money to move. He tried to return to work, but was unable to do his job. (He was a chief technician at a dialysis unit) He was the one who maintained the dialysis machines and then would fix them when they needed repair. He had worked at the same facility for 13 years.
We borrowed money from his mom, my mom and anyone else who would give us money and rented a 24 ft Budget truck with a trailer. Everything we owned, or kept was put in that truck. We also had to tow his truck behind the truck because he is unable to drive very long. We found out that he now has permanent short-term memory problems and some confusion from the 2 respiratory arrests. (from lack of oxygen) His daughter paid for herself to fly from Nebraska to Florida. She drove my car to OK and I drove the truck. It took us 4 very long days to get to OK.
We moved into a 1200 sq foot apartment her in Tulsa on August 29. On September 2 at 4 in the morning there was a lightening that hit the apartment building causing a fire. I had not even finished unpacking everything. So most of what was brought from Florida was lost in the fire from smoke and water damage. What we could salvage was boxed back up and put into another rental truck and moved to a new apartment in a whole new complex owned by the same company. The kids are in the 1st grade at the same school they were in when we were here before. They even have the same teachers. The school has clothed them and given us some more clothes for them to wear. They gave them new backpacks and school supplies. (I had just bought all of that just 2 days before the fire!)
I have not been able to find employment yet. I also have to take into consideration how much time the kids will be home with him. He is physically and mentally unable to take care of the kids for more than maybe an hour at a time. I now have 3 kids at home and one of them is going to be 55 years old at the end of October. I have applied for disability for him, but you all know how long that takes.
I have already had to take him to the emergency room once due to increased pain. We have no insurance and no money to even pay for the medication the emergency room physician ordered for him. We cannot get medicaid for him until his disability goes through. Oklahoma department of human services won't help me with childcare until I prove to them that I found employment. We did get enough food stamps to buy food for the month and the kids get free breakfast and lunch at school. That helps alot. Because we had to move to a new apartment complex there is no school bus to take them to and from school. So I have to drive them to and from school.
Any help of clothes for the kids Karyn pants size 7 with adjustable waist, shirts size 5-6, shoes size 12-1, Jamar pants size 7, shirts 6-8, shoes size 2-3 would be greatly appreciated. We lost all of the winter clothes that I had collected in the fire and do not have the finances to replace them. Checking alot of resources here in Tulsa.
Anything anyone could do to help would be so much appreciated.
Donations can be sent directly to: Jeanette and Mack McKee
6514 S. 93rd E. Ave
Apt B
Tulsa, OK 74133
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