Linda is a single mom with 2 daughters bound by MD to wheelchairs. Having been disabled since childhood, they were intimately involved with the MDA (ch 24) telethon for many years. Linda needed more space for a handicapped bathroom and bedroom so an addition was begun on the rear of the house by herself, friends and family. During construction, the yard was ignored and basically ruined. Occasional mowing was done to keep down the fire hazard. Both girls are successful young women now, both in college, but who have their permanent residence still in this home and are bound within the walls due to the woeful condition of the back yard.
The eldest girl is finishing her degree at Fresno State in exercise science, with studies in nutrition and occupational therapy. The youngest is pursuing a career in law, and is presently finishing her first year at law school. Both are high achievers, in spite of the limitations that MD has inflicted upon their lives, and both have a tremendous amount of gifts and experience to enrich the lives of others. They are in college, not to just better themselves, but to contribute to our world with the gifts and talents they have been given. The attention that they need has taken from the time needed to maintain the backyard. Linda has had to travel many times to Sacramento to help on behalf of her youngest. The eldest daughter still needs her at home.
Linda was kept busy with the girls through school, and during that time, her parents were striken with cancer and lung problems. So, in addition to the needs of the girls, she has also traveled for some time between Sanger and Visalia to assist her brother in the care of her parents, both disabled as well. Recently, this spring, sadly, both parents passed away. Never complaining, she is currently still making the trip to help her family tie up loose ends and resume their "normal" lives. Her children and their needs took priority, but she has been vigilant with her parents in Visalia, making the trip to care for them whenever possible, to relieve her brother. She should be commended for her sacrifice to take some of the burden from her siblings. She traveled to Visalia two or more times a week during the last months of her parent's lives, as well as her travels for the girls.
As a result of all the home care of her daughters and parents, all the travel time, plus work, errands, daily chores after work, the yard is presently a hazard area. It is full of dried foxtails, mulberry trees in need of a trim, a once productive and now dry garden, and a rusty old shed that filled with unusable items. There were times several of us friends could and would and did help, but the whole thing got out of hand, and our own families and work did not coordinate well with times Linda was available for direction. We wish for her and the girls to have their oaisis and will be wiling and able to learn what to do and to help. They need a space to relax and enjoy fresh air, since the budget does not allow much for air conditioning and the summers are sweltering. Evening and morning outings in the yard would be a wonderful respite, and easy to access without a complex trip to a park or vacation spot. The girls are very independent, but they need a navigable, picturesque place to substitute for the getaways they can't afford or participate in like other young women. A yard which they can easily traverse and in which to sit to visit with friends year-round would be ideal.
This wonderful mother has worked hard to see her girls come so far in life, and to live so productively...they have marvelous futures once they fininsh school. Linda, as well as the girls, deserves a place where she can relax after work for a few minutes and get a breath of fresh air and a glimpse of the color of the world, other than an office full of patients and the walls of her home. She is a fantastic lady, perseverant, proud and intelligent, navigating and accepting the difficulties of her life with surety and humor and faith in God. I have never known anyone like her. Please help her achieve a yard with ground cover that won't mire heavy wheelchairs, with a colorful, serene landscape that will be low maintenance and easy to water (currently, there is only a hose there). I know she will make an outstanding effort to maintain all improvements, and there will be myself and others willing to help if needed, to keep it an enjoyable retreat for her and the girls, as well as the numbers of friends who are always welcome. Please help make the Radtke's field of foxtails transform into a field of dreams. Thank you. Darleen Stukey, a friend.
veggie garden would help budget
Gallery
Wheelchairs in foxtails-a friend's view
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says ... on Monday, May 19 at 3:08 PM
I wanted to enter the contest til I read this story! This Yard Deserves a Make~Over More than Mine or ANY other!!! I Sure Hope they Win this Contest! WheelChair Bound Women Who Educate their Minds Deserve All the Help They can get! GOD BLESS YOU!!!
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