Post by wvhsparent on Apr 4, 2007 9:25:52 GMT -6
Friends hope to restore safe haven
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, April 04, 2007
When it rains, it seems to pour on the Porcaro family — through their roof, down a light fixture and into the basement.
A leaky roof is just one of several repairs needed on the Naperville house they bought with the last of their resources after Tony, 52, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago.
Now friends and colleagues of the former Crone Middle School physical education teacher are throwing the family a life raft. They’re organizing a much-needed makeover of the split-level, four-bedroom home on Tupelo Drive.
“It looked fine when they moved in but there were a lot of things that were hidden,” said friend Nancee Furlan, who teaches PE at Crone.
With Tony unable to work and his wife, Carolyn, currently unemployed, Furlan said the home improvements aren’t as cosmetic in nature as they are important to allowing the family to live comfortably.
“(Tony’s) the type of guy that if something like this was to happen to somebody else, he’d be right in there helping,” Furlan said. “We’re going to work really hard to try to get as much done as possible.”
Tony and Carolyn
“Who are you talking to?” Tony asks as Carolyn, 53, details their home’s state of disrepair.
She cups her hand over the phone and whispers, “a reporter from the newspaper.”
“Oh,” he responds, and then admonishes her for talking about their misfortunes.
She tells him they have to be honest even though it’s pride-shattering for them to be in the position to accept help rather than give it.
“OK,” he says and then pauses.
“Who are you talking to?” he asks again.
And so it goes, Carolyn said.
This is their new life of trying to adjust to the complexities of Tony’s illness. That illness, in turn, has made it difficult for Carolyn to find work with a business whose insurance will deal with his condition.
“There’s no point in saying ‘I’ve told you this six times,’ because he can’t remember that,” she said. “So we patiently repeat ourselves and carry on.”
Yes, they probably could have moved out of Naperville — Carolyn’s hometown — and away from the children’s schools — Lincoln Junior High and Naperville Central High School — in search of a community with a lower cost of living.
But for the four Porcaro children, school and friends were really the only constant since their father was diagnosed four years ago; a time 13-year-old Caitlyn remembers as “the worst year of my life.”
Looking for home
Ironically, it was a leaky roof and mold that drove the family from their previous home into a temporary living arrangement with Carolyn’s father, who also has Alzheimer’s.
But when life with a 15-year-old, triplet 13-year-olds and two Alzheimer’s patients became too much, the Porcaros began looking for a place of their own.
So they invested the last of their money and bought the house on Tupelo Drive.
It was supposed to be a safe haven — the one constant amid the ever-changing landscape of Tony’s disease and the daily trials of teenage existence.
“This was supposed to be where we were going to be fine,” Carolyn said. “That’s the thing that makes me feel really bad for the kids, because it’s not.”
At first it seemed like it might be the perfect sanctuary.
But then it rained one day and water poured in through a ceiling fixture and settled in a mold-causing puddle in the basement family room.
Then bathroom fixtures, held to the ceiling and wall only with silicone caulk, began to fall off.
The kitchen countertop tile crumbled.
On a nice spring day, Carolyn opened the windows for the first time only to have all the ill-fitting screens blow out.
“It’s just silly stuff like that that you think you can deal with one-on-one, but as things start to pile up it just really becomes overwhelming,” Carolyn said.
For the mother of four struggling to pay the bills and to deal with the emotional demands of watching her husband fade into an incurable disease, issues such as replacing the roof and eradicating mold are too much.
“It’s like a house of dominoes — they just keep falling down,” she said. “What we thought was going to be our safe haven has turned into…”
“Hell,” Tony said.
While there’s no emotional solution that makes the disease less painful, faculty at Crone Middle School say they can’t idly watch as the stress of finances and home repairs mount.
Furlan and others believe the home makeover can do a world of good. They’ve already secured the materials to replace the kitchen counter.
But they need a roofer to replace the damaged roof and support trusses — a project they hope will eliminate the basement flooding and impede the mold growth. They’d like to replace the siding, install some new wiring for sockets and replace some of the doors and the sagging front porch stoop.
But the repairs are contingent on monetary donations and people stepping forward with materials and time.
“You don’t even imagine all the things you use in a day when they’re doing without to make ends meet,” Furlan said. “We’re going to do the best we can. We can’t make any promises until we see how it goes.”
Life will probably remain a challenge for the Porcaro family. But organizers say they hope some basic home repairs will ease the burden a bit.
“I think we have a really strong family,” Carolyn said. “The only thing I want is a house that’s livable and at the moment this is becoming not livable.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dailyherald.com
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Wednesday, April 04, 2007
When it rains, it seems to pour on the Porcaro family — through their roof, down a light fixture and into the basement.
A leaky roof is just one of several repairs needed on the Naperville house they bought with the last of their resources after Tony, 52, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease a few years ago.
Now friends and colleagues of the former Crone Middle School physical education teacher are throwing the family a life raft. They’re organizing a much-needed makeover of the split-level, four-bedroom home on Tupelo Drive.
“It looked fine when they moved in but there were a lot of things that were hidden,” said friend Nancee Furlan, who teaches PE at Crone.
With Tony unable to work and his wife, Carolyn, currently unemployed, Furlan said the home improvements aren’t as cosmetic in nature as they are important to allowing the family to live comfortably.
“(Tony’s) the type of guy that if something like this was to happen to somebody else, he’d be right in there helping,” Furlan said. “We’re going to work really hard to try to get as much done as possible.”
Tony and Carolyn
“Who are you talking to?” Tony asks as Carolyn, 53, details their home’s state of disrepair.
She cups her hand over the phone and whispers, “a reporter from the newspaper.”
“Oh,” he responds, and then admonishes her for talking about their misfortunes.
She tells him they have to be honest even though it’s pride-shattering for them to be in the position to accept help rather than give it.
“OK,” he says and then pauses.
“Who are you talking to?” he asks again.
And so it goes, Carolyn said.
This is their new life of trying to adjust to the complexities of Tony’s illness. That illness, in turn, has made it difficult for Carolyn to find work with a business whose insurance will deal with his condition.
“There’s no point in saying ‘I’ve told you this six times,’ because he can’t remember that,” she said. “So we patiently repeat ourselves and carry on.”
Yes, they probably could have moved out of Naperville — Carolyn’s hometown — and away from the children’s schools — Lincoln Junior High and Naperville Central High School — in search of a community with a lower cost of living.
But for the four Porcaro children, school and friends were really the only constant since their father was diagnosed four years ago; a time 13-year-old Caitlyn remembers as “the worst year of my life.”
Looking for home
Ironically, it was a leaky roof and mold that drove the family from their previous home into a temporary living arrangement with Carolyn’s father, who also has Alzheimer’s.
But when life with a 15-year-old, triplet 13-year-olds and two Alzheimer’s patients became too much, the Porcaros began looking for a place of their own.
So they invested the last of their money and bought the house on Tupelo Drive.
It was supposed to be a safe haven — the one constant amid the ever-changing landscape of Tony’s disease and the daily trials of teenage existence.
“This was supposed to be where we were going to be fine,” Carolyn said. “That’s the thing that makes me feel really bad for the kids, because it’s not.”
At first it seemed like it might be the perfect sanctuary.
But then it rained one day and water poured in through a ceiling fixture and settled in a mold-causing puddle in the basement family room.
Then bathroom fixtures, held to the ceiling and wall only with silicone caulk, began to fall off.
The kitchen countertop tile crumbled.
On a nice spring day, Carolyn opened the windows for the first time only to have all the ill-fitting screens blow out.
“It’s just silly stuff like that that you think you can deal with one-on-one, but as things start to pile up it just really becomes overwhelming,” Carolyn said.
For the mother of four struggling to pay the bills and to deal with the emotional demands of watching her husband fade into an incurable disease, issues such as replacing the roof and eradicating mold are too much.
“It’s like a house of dominoes — they just keep falling down,” she said. “What we thought was going to be our safe haven has turned into…”
“Hell,” Tony said.
While there’s no emotional solution that makes the disease less painful, faculty at Crone Middle School say they can’t idly watch as the stress of finances and home repairs mount.
Furlan and others believe the home makeover can do a world of good. They’ve already secured the materials to replace the kitchen counter.
But they need a roofer to replace the damaged roof and support trusses — a project they hope will eliminate the basement flooding and impede the mold growth. They’d like to replace the siding, install some new wiring for sockets and replace some of the doors and the sagging front porch stoop.
But the repairs are contingent on monetary donations and people stepping forward with materials and time.
“You don’t even imagine all the things you use in a day when they’re doing without to make ends meet,” Furlan said. “We’re going to do the best we can. We can’t make any promises until we see how it goes.”
Life will probably remain a challenge for the Porcaro family. But organizers say they hope some basic home repairs will ease the burden a bit.
“I think we have a really strong family,” Carolyn said. “The only thing I want is a house that’s livable and at the moment this is becoming not livable.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dailyherald.com
