Too Sick to Work: How Robert’s Family Faced Homelessness while he Battled Cancer

In 2019, Robert was working a steady job in Florida while caring for his aging mother, his 16 year old daughter, and his younger brother with special needs. Robert’s mother had relatives in Colorado that were going through a tough time and his mother wanted the family to move to be closer to them. Robert thought these family members would help them until they got situated, but the very same night they arrived in Colorado, Robert was told they couldn’t stay and they were forced to go elsewhere. While staying with a friend temporarily, his mother had a bad fall tripping over their dog and seriously injured her shoulder. Robert was forced to find a better situation for his family and all he could find on such short notice was a small hotel room.

While trying to find a more permanent job, Robert was making ends meet by working for drive-sharing companies. This quickly fell into a cycle of making only just enough money during the day to pay for his car payment, their food, and cover the cost of the hotel room for the next night. Robert was barely keeping his head above water and could only manage to look ahead a few days at a time. Then, in spring of 2020, Robert began to fall ill.

As the days and weeks went by Robert was feeling sicker. He didn’t have insurance so he put off going to the doctor. When he was so ill he couldn’t work anymore and the family faced homelessness Robert finally went to the hospital where he was diagnosed with cancer. His family was again able to stay with a friend temporarily and the hospital staff helped get him signed up for Medicaid to cover the cost of treatment. But Robert still worried about the well-being of his loved ones since working while he sought treatment would be impossible and they still had no place to live. That’s when they were connected to Sister Carmen Community Center.

The family had utilized some of Sister Carmen’s services occasionally such as the food bank. His experience with SCCC had always been that they were friendly and understanding, but he had no idea how much they could help him now. After reaching out, Robert was connected with an Advocate who listened to his family’s situation, offered him options and advice, and shortly enrolled him into a program to get them housed. By August of 2020 the family had a safe place to live where they could afford rent until Robert recovered. This gave him the peace of mind to know his family was cared for and he could focus on treatment and getting his life under control.

Over the next 6 months Robert had undergone 2 surgeries, 2 rounds of chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. In February of 2021 he was finally declared to be in remission! Robert has also been taking real estate classes and plans to work as a realtor once he passes his exam.

“You guys are life savers. The doctor told me that if I had waited 6 more months to get treatment it would’ve been too late. If I didn’t have a place to stay and continued to push through working as much as I had to make ends meet, then I definitely wouldn’t have been able to continue with the treatment I needed.”

To anyone else who is struggling Robert says, “Just keep your head up. It’s always going to get better. No matter what happens just push forward and you’ll make it through. My grandma taught me, ‘it doesn’t matter what else goes on, you just got to keep pushing forward.”