Stories of Other Loss
My Friend Michelle
by Summer Morrow, Greer, U.S.A.
My name is Summer Morrow. My husband David and I recently opened our home to a young 22 year old girl who has been friends of our family for the past 8 years. Her name is Michelle Turner. Michelle's 2 1/2 year old daughter McKala Turner was killed in a car wreck 4 months ago. The driver was the child's father. His name is Aaron Turner. He was speeding on a curvy road. He was charged with going 75mph in a 25mph. McKala was not correctly fastened in her car-seat when they recked. The force of hitting 2 trees jarred the child into the seat in front of her causing her to die on the way to the hospital. The hospital keep the brain dead child for three days. Michelle then donated the child's organs to other children waiting for transplants but is still grieving tremendously. Aaron (the father) had been drinking (but did not take a breathalyzer test until 6 hours after the wreck) and his blood alcohol level was .03 at that time. The District Attorney is working on more charges. He is facing charges for reckless driving involving the death of child. He was not hurt and was released the next morning on $10,000.00 bail. Michelle however is having to not only deal with the loss of her only child but has a lot of confusion, anger and frustration about how to handle the charges that her estranged husband is facing. She wants him to be charged and disciplined but his family and her family are encouraging her not to press charges because they say he's "suffered enough." She's hurting and has not had a family to support her whole life. Her biological mother is a drug addict and her bio-dad is a drunk. Her stepmother is bitter and very unsupportive about pressing charges. My husband and I love Michelle very much. She gave her heart to Christ last month and has been going to church with us and working with me (cleaning houses and businesses) but is not stable enough for a full time job. She has a car but has a monthly car payment but can't afford insurance or tag at this time. She can't afford to pay the sales tax or property taxes and still hasn't paid off the funeral expenses or hospital charges form the child's death. These charges are well over 60,000. She is waiting for her divorce but is being told she will have to pay for that too. Her ex left her with about $50,000 in debt and no place to go. She has no real friends and well, no family. We have helped her get a checking account, payment plans with some of the creditors, but we cannot afford to do anymore than that. We have taken her to 2 Christian counselors, one CDV counselor and a state mental heath clinic along with 2 visits to our family Doctor. It helps for a few days or a week and then reality hits again. She's tired of crying and I'm tired of feeling helpless. David and I are not qualified counselors in this area. We pray for wisdom and for God's peace in her heart. But she also needs to know that there are others that know how she feels and she needs some kind of direction in her life. We are supporting her financially but we are struggling just to get by. She wants to start a fund for others in her situation and also wants to work with children later on. PLEASE HELP US! PRAYER, SUPPORT GROUP CONTACTS, LEGAL ADVISE, FINANCIAL SUPPORT.... ANYTHING. Thank you so much for reading this. Your time is valuable and I'm sure you have many others to help. Please remember Michelle. God Bless,
Summer Morrow
Email: Summer2morrow@aol.com
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