Please Help Edgar’s Mom

Edgar’s mom, also affectionately called Mama O by some of our Kombat members, is a sweet 82-year-old who, unfortunately, struggles with many health ailments, including dementia, asthma, a pacemaker and arthritis to the point that her mobility has been compromised. Mom also has COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which is obstruction of airflow to the lungs, making it difficult for her to breathe.

Over a month ago, while at her home, Mom suddenly collapsed. When taken to the hospital, she was diagnosed with bleeding from her bowels. However, they couldn’t perform necessary testing because, due to her age and poor health, the testing would do more harm than good. As a result of this incident, she spent a month in the hospital, where she had no will to move or even eat. At this point, the doctor decided the best thing for Mom was to send her home.

As you can imagine, Mom is no longer independent. At this point, she is mostly bedridden and unable to walk, get out of bed or go down the stairs on her own. When Edgar is over, he takes the opportunity to literally carry her downstairs because the PSWs can’t.

Mom needs round-the-clock supervision. She can’t be safely left alone. And even though a PSW does come over, in the morning and afternoon, to feed Mom and change her, the PSW can’t give out meds. So, when Edgar is at work and the PSW is not at Mom’s home, there is a service that comes in, for four to five hours, five days a week. This service really helps to fill the gaps in care for Mom because they spend chunks of time with her -- helping her exercise, walk, eat and other things she can’t do on her own -- and they are able to give her meds.

This service is great and seems like a viable solution for Mom. It really seems that they can give Mom a better quality of life, as she deals with these medical challenges. The only thing is the service is not cheap. It is about $2,200 a month.

As we all know, Edgar is a great guy who goes out of his way to help our community. Let's show how we can be a great community by helping our friend Edgar and giving his Mom the financial support that they need.