Penny Moore of Dayton, Tennessee, said she had to quit her job in November 2021 to care for her mother, who’d been diagnosed with cancer two months prior.
Eight months later, Moore finally asked the United Way of Rhea County for help.
“It’s hard to ask for help,” she said, her voice breaking. “I guess I don’t want people to think I’m trying to take advantage.
“Maybe my pride gets in the way,” she said.
Moore said the truck owned by her then-boyfriend was the one that got her mom, Patricia Kirkland, to Chattanooga for radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatments at CHI Memorial Hospital. High gas prices forced him to pawn the title to that truck, she said.
This past June, Moore said, her boyfriend had a series of strokes and was diagnosed with moyamoya, a rare disease caused by a tangle of blocked arteries at the base of the brain. As he was unable to work and make payments on his title, he stood to lose his vehicle.
That, she said, was when she approached the United Way and got the help she needed from the Chattanooga Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund.
“The idea was to see if we could get help with a (single) payment,” Moore said, “but they looked around and found enough to pay it off.
“Angie (Drake) and Amy (McRorie, both of the United Way staff) were a big help,” she added. “It was a big blessing.”
But Moore’s good fortune didn’t last. She and her onetime boyfriend split about a month ago, she said, so she’s had to rely on her sister, Crystal Knox, to help with transportation when she can.
“She’s our biggest support system,” said Moore, who added that her three adult daughters and their families provide good emotional support.
“We have neighbors who help sometimes,” Moore said, “and we were doing public transportation, but the doctors thought (Kirkland’s) chances of being exposed (to infection) were too great.”
Moore said she and her mother get by on the latter’s monthly Social Security.
“This is just the way it’s going to be,” Moore said. “We can’t afford to get anyone to come in and help, but we’re very grateful for the help we have received.”
Moore said that since her mother’s initial diagnosis, her cancer spread to her ureter, which has been removed. Moore added that her mother now has cancer in both lungs and her spine.
Moore said the imperative on protecting her mother’s fragile immune system made Thanksgiving — and will likely make Christmas — a very quiet affair.
“Probably just me and her,” she said. “My sister might come visit, and the kids might come by, but we can’t risk being around crowds of people.
“She just can’t get sick,” Moore said.
The Times Free Press Neediest Cases Fund was started in 1914 by Adolph Ochs, then the publisher of the Chattanooga Times. The Fund receives donations from Times Free Press readers. Money is administered and distributed to individuals and families in need by the United Way of Greater Chattanooga and partner agencies. Recipients must be working or on a fixed income and be able to demonstrate ongoing stability and self-sufficiency after receiving Neediest Cases funds.
According to United Way figures, the Neediest Cases Fund took in $81,000 last year and, in turn, helped 79 adults and 61 children in 54 households. Neediest Cases money went in 2020 to 60 adults and 40 children in 42 households.
Contact Bob Gary at bgary@timesfreepress.com.