Kids in need of help, family auctions everything they own

Man, I hope the Gates or the Woodruffs see this and just write a check ...

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=125999&catid=40

 

I'm gonna need more details before I can make a call on this one.

 

Shouldn't their local school district be providing therapy to the child with autism? That could help, some.

There's no mention in the story if the family tried to receive government services, either. It couldn't hurt for them to try.

The story also didn't mention if the family had health insurance. I would think that they would, if they had a big-screen TV, and that the insurance would have paid for part of the other child's medical bills.

 

Reminds of the movie John Q when the family sells everything to pay for their son's treatment.

At least I think that's the movie.

 

That's a little too much to assume, Baron, given that many Americans will put materialism above everything.

 

My impression: They either got as far as they could with government and insurance and needed more than those avenues provided, or they just said, "hey we have these things and we can make our own way by selling them." Most people I know wouldn't be too proud to ask for government help, but there are some people -- and I'm not saying this couple is in this category -- who live by the creed that the less government involvement in their lives, the better off they are.

 

That's the problem with the story. It doesn't go into great detail of the family's problems.

Novelist could be right. We hear all the time about families going into bankruptcy over medical bills. Thing is, there is assistance out there.

My family has children with special needs, too. We use government help, both with schools and social agencies. Raising children is difficult enough if they are healthy and normal. When they are not, it's considerably harder.

I felt weird at first about receiving government help. But after a while, I feel OK by it. Plus, seeing baseball teams receive government help to build stadiums and CEOs receiving bailout handouts doesn't make me feel so bad about getting some help for my children.

 

I can totally understand that point of view, but it's easier if you're a single adult or even a couple. Seems to me you have to be willing to put that kind of pride aside if it would help your kids.

 

What does Brittiny -- that's a new spelling for me -- do for a living? Without it stated there, I assume Gregg's the only one working, and if he's self-employed, he might not have a good enough health plan to deal with all that. Even if he does have good insurance, it probably -- certainly -- isn't enough to deal with all the finances.

 

They were probably doing well before all of this started. I mean if they have enough stuff to even put a dent in the medical bills, they must have made some decent money in the past. With this economy, maybe the bottom just fell out from underneath them in a hurry. And if his children were that sick, the father's work probably suffered too.

 

I looked up what Still's Desease is and it seems to be a form of arthritis in children.

The school can help with the autism, but for Still's, they can help at school but not at home.

It might sound harsh, but a school is a school and not a hospital.

 

Agreed. Anything could have happened to the family. The story didn't have very much detail. It just seemed rather harsh that the family was auctioning off everything. I would hope that they looked into other options before taking such a drastic approach.

Of course, in this economy, more families may be facing the same thing.