Carol Stream church brings ‘sunshine’ into ill 5-year-old’s life
The clouds over Debrina Moore’s life will part for a while on Sunday morning.
The single mother from Glendale Heights works full time and also is the main caregiver for her 5-year-old son, Christian. The little boy has cerebral palsy, seizures, badly damaged lungs, a feeding tube, a tracheotomy tube and cannot talk or walk.
Debrina Moore lives in a state of constant exhaustion and worry.
When she learned organizers of Lutheran Church of the Master’s Summer Sunshine concert fundraiser unanimously chose Christian as this year’s beneficiary, she cried.
“I just said it was God answering my prayer,” Moore said.
The annual event is “designed to assist people, particularly young people, who have financial hardship due to medical reasons,” said Michael Benshish, director of worship and music at the Carol Stream church.
The concert at 11 a.m. Sunday follows a breakfast buffet with food donated by church members.
Both are free and open to anyone in the community; donations for Christian will be accepted in the form of cash or a check made out to Lutheran Church of the Master. “Every penny is a result of a free will offering,” Benshish said.
Donations will still be accepted for about a week after the concert, and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will match the total dollar-for-dollar up to $3,500.
Organizers were moved by reading a story about Debrina’s heroic efforts in the Daily Herald on Mother’s Day.
Christian needs 24-hour medical care, and hospital equipment and supplies fill the lower level of Moore’s rented home. Nurses come during the day while Moore works as a home health nurse, as well as three overnights per week. The rest of the time Moore is on her own, staying up at night to care for her son and make sure he doesn’t stop breathing.
“I don’t want to put him in a nursing home,” she says firmly.
Since Mother’s Day, the family has suffered more hardships. Moore, running to Christian because he was choking, fell down the stairs and injured her knee. She missed work and may still need surgery.
Even worse, the cash-strapped state is threatening to cut the hours of nursing Christian receives. Moore is appealing.
Moore says she wants to use some of the money raised to hire caregivers so she can spend a little extra time with her daughter, Cabri, 11, who often says she is sad because her mother works so much and they can never go anywhere.
The rest will go to pay the bills, including catching up on the rent, she said.
Moore, Christian and Cabri will be at the concert Sunday. Taking Christian anywhere with all of his equipment is a big production, but one of Moore’s friends has offered to help. “Oh, he loves music,” Moore said. “This is perfect thing for him; he enjoys loud music.”
So he’ll probably be smiling a lot, a huge, joyous smile that fills his face — and his mother’s heart.
If you go
What: Summer Sunshine concert fundraiser to benefit seriously ill Glendale Heights 5-year-old, Christian Moore
When: 10 a.m. brunch buffet, followed by 11 a.m. concert, Sunday, August 28
Where: Lutheran Church of the Master, 580 N. Kuhn Road, Carol Stream
Admission: Free; donations accepted in the form of cash or check made out to Lutheran Church of the Master.
Info: <a href="http://www.lcotm.org/">www.lcotm.org</a>