When a mom gets sick, a daughter steps in to help. And they’re nearly both eaten alive by bills.

Did you ever wonder how people get so deep in financial trouble that they can’t pay their water bills? Here’s one Detroit woman’s story of how it happened to her and her mother, and how you saved them, just in time for Mother’s Day. Thank you, donors. It’s because of you that this story has a happy ending.

Brenda got very sick three years ago, with a chronic colon problem. She was hospitalized for just under a week before her doctor could stabilize her.

Before getting sick, she had worked at the post office. After her first brush with the illness, sometimes, she felt okay, but when her illness flared up, her doctor told her not to work.

Without regular income, and in periodic unbearable pain, Brenda felt deeply stressed. She had trouble paying her mortgage. She got sick again. With the bank threatening to foreclose, her daughter, Shae Marie, stepped into help.

Shae Marie shared how difficult their lives had been for the past few years.

“I’m an only child. Everything I had was going to help my mom. Things were really tight. We had no food. I was buying my mom little bits of food, and trying to make it last for a week. We owed DTE (gas/electric utility) about $2000. They were sending shut-off notices. We were just trying to make it. Everything was on me to handle.

And then we got a water shut-off notice.”

Eventually, Brenda did start to receive federal disability. But even that was a complicated process. Shae Marie, Brenda’s devoted daughter, did not give up.

“Disability was the longest process EVER. We applied in November of last year. But they kept asking for more and more information. She was finally approved a month ago. And we just were approved for food stamps. That has been blessing.”

“The water company wanted me to pay $300-$400 just to get on a payment plan. I was like ‘Oh My God, where is THAT money going to come from?’ We owed so many different places money.

My mama was just crying and crying. We couldn’t get a break. ”

Does this sounds like an isolated incident to you? A series of unfortunate coincidences? It isn’t. Our society has safety nets, but as poor families know, they’re full of holes.

At The Human Utility, we hear stories like this all the time. But thanks to our donors, we can fix at least one of the problems, sometimes almost instantly.

“I went on Google, searching for help, and by the grace of the Lord, I found this program and applied. Marie contacted me and said, ‘If you send me all the documentation right now, I can probably help you right away, in time for Mother’s Day!’ So I did.”

“It only took Marie about an hour. My mama just started crying again, but for different reasons. It had been such a burden on both of us.”