Couple Takes In Woman With Cerebral Palsy Stuck In Nursing Home

[The Straight Story]

Couple Takes In Woman With Cerebral Palsy Stuck In Nursing Home
By Shaun Heasley
May 3, 2010

At 21 and left with no one to care for her, Haylee Cain had no choice but to move into a nursing home. Two months and a newspaper article later, Cain who has cerebral palsy is getting a new lease on life.

Cain entered a nursing home when her grandfather could no longer provide the 24-hour care she needed. After a story was published about Cain in the Florence, Ala. newspaper, she reconnected with Donna and Judson Emens who knew Cain as a child. Soon enough, the Emens decided to bring her into their home.

Without the Emens, Cain’s prospects were not good. There is little infrastructure in Alabama to care for those like Cain who are physically limited, but mentally capable. To be eligible for a slot in a group home, she would need an IQ score below 70. Barring that, Cain likely would have spent most of her life in a nursing home.

Cain says the institutional lifestyle at the nursing facility left her feeling depressed and hopeless after just two months.

http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/05/03/cp-nursing-home/7913/

Couple adopt woman after reading her story in paper


If Haylee Cain were telling you her life's story, it would begin Thursday.

The 21-year-old said she would always remember it as the day she moved out of the nursing home and into the lives of Donna and Judson Emens, of Tuscumbia.

"I'm just so excited," she said. "I said I wouldn't cry, but I might."

Because she suffers from cerebral palsy and because her grandfather, James Thomas, was no longer able to care for her, Haylee was forced to live in a nursing home. No state agency exists to care for individuals such as Haylee who suffer from physical, rather than intellectual, disabilities and who are 21 or older.

The Emenses read about Haylee's plight in the TimesDaily earlier this month.



http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100430/ARTICLES/4305032/-1/living05?Title=Couple-adopt-woman-after-reading-her-story-in-paper

[BrklynLiberal]

1. How wonderful for Haylee. How terribly sad for Alabama.

[Kitty Herder]

2. What great people!

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, The Straight Story.

[rurallib]

4. Ok, I just cried a little

[applegrove]

5. That little girl has amazing parents. What an example they set for her.