HOTH: Cole Gay ’25

“She’s a miracle by God. After my dad left, my mom was there for me and she helped support me when I was little. I was the only one in the house and she kind of had to split her time between me and my little brother and taking care of the house. She has lupus and she has no immune system. So every time she gets sick or something like that, she’s in the hospital for weeks at a time. A couple years ago she got something called histoplasmosis. The doctors said she was going to die. She wouldn’t. She told them that she needed to get home to her kids. Actually, she’s doing a lot better. She’s been on the road to heal and she’s got a job with jars. It’s a Christian volunteer group. She’s disabled so she’s not allowed to work at all. They won’t let her, so we live with my grandparents right now. I work two jobs after school because I want to help her out.  I battled depression for a little over a year and a half and it still pops up every now and again, but people have helped and people have made it worse too. More people have helped it than make it worse. My family, my friends and my girlfriend, they’re the people that have been there for me my whole life.  It’s alright. I’m grateful that we have somewhere to stay and we’re not staying on the streets. Always it could always be worse.”