Sally came to be with Hope Recuperative Care (HRC) in the beginning of August of 2020. Pastor Philip Chryst describes her as a blessing and a delight. “She has incredible fortitude, and a positive and proactive attitude.” But it wasn’t always so easy for Sally to smile. When she came to Hope Recuperative Care, she had absolutely nothing. She laughed, “I’d say I came with the clothes on my back, but I didn’t even have that. I came in a tank top and scrub pants the hospital gave me because they didn’t want to discharge me in a hospital gown.”
Sally is the second youngest of five girls, who grew up on a farm in Reidsville (right outside of Greensboro). She jokes that she was “born to work,” but she loved it. She misses the country, and calls the community garden (complete with chickens!) at HRC “a little taste of home.” She moved to Wilmington at the painful end of a relationship in 2016. She wanted a fresh start, and her sister who had gone to school at UNCW recommended ILM as the perfect place for a change of scenery. So, Sally packed up and moved down. Of her time here, Sally says, “Wilmington has been pretty good to me… until Covid.”
At the beginning of 2020, she was renting a condo that the owner had recently sold. She secured a new place to live, but it wasn’t quite ready. That was fine, because being resourceful and careful, Sally had just over $3,000 in savings. She moved her things into a hotel for what she’d assumed would be a very short stay. “But then Covid happened,” she said seriously. Since landlords were not able to evict tenants, many chose not to allow new residents to move in at all. Those that did required prospective tenants to pay 3-4 months rent up-front (which Sally just didn’t have). Being in the restaurant industry, Covid-19 also put Sally out of work. The cost of the hotel quickly ate up all of her savings, and Sally spent many nights on friends’ couches, and even spent a few scary nights in a tent. Sally is employed at Elizabeth’s Pizza, and when they reopened for carry-out-only, she eagerly returned to work as a cook in the kitchen. She had been back to work for about a month when one night after her shift, she began to feel intense pain in her lower abdomen. “I have never been in so much pain. I thought my appendix had ruptured. I was just in SO much pain. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight.” A friend rushed her to the hospital, where it was discovered she had cysts on her ovaries – one the size of a tennis ball, and the other the size of a golf ball. Holding up her hands to demonstrate the sizes, Sally exclaimed, “They were both huge! It’s not something they even check in a regular physical, so I had no idea they were there.”
A week later, Sally had surgery. Her doctors thought they could remove the cysts laparoscopically, which would have been an out-patient procedure. But, the surgery wound up being significantly more invasive. Fortunately, the surgeon was able to save Sally’s ovaries, but the severity of the surgery meant five more days in the hospital – which was only the beginning of a long and painful recovery. After those 5 days, she was released to Hope Recuperative Care. A very timid Sally was greeted by a staff member, who showed her to her room and walked her through her paperwork. Sally had never done communal living, and wasn’t sure what to expect. But in no time, she became an integral part of HRC’s daily life. She cooks and cleans, and helps welcome newcomers. Sally says it can be tricky living with total strangers. She says, “I’m thankful and I feel blessed. You know, I came in here with not even the clothes on my back! I was in that pair of hospital pants. And now I’m leaving – and I have an apartment, and I have a whole new wardrobe, and boxes and boxes of other stuff that people have donated. I have gift cards, and kitchen stuff. I have a bed, a kitchen table, and dressers… I just feel very very blessed.”
It wasn’t easy, but Sally has been persistent and persevered. “I came here with a very open mind and open heart. I don’t want to go back to the street. I have had this time to rest and to heal and to get things lined up.” Sally was able to make use of the grant Social Services offered through the Cares Act to help get the money she needed to put a down-payment on the apartment downtown.
Typically, it’s against the rules to work while you’re a guest with HRC, but since Sally has a concrete plan and lined up a place to stay, she was able to get an exception to return to work at Elizabeth’s Pizza last week. She was excited to be back to work, and they were excited to have her. Sally says of her work family, “It feels good to have been missed, and to be wanted.” Sally loves cooking, and enjoys her work immensely.
As Sally walked me through the art room, the kitchen, and the community garden, she shared that her favorite moments at HRC have been the family-style dinners every night. She and the other guests often take turns cooking with the staff. Everyone eats together, which she said is an awesome experience. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a family dinner before coming here.”
While HRC is a ministry of The Anchor Church, religion is not a mandatory part of volunteer involvement or being a guest there. But Sally says, “This was a break for me to regroup. I never lost my faith, but I definitely lost my path. Through staff counseling, and having time to spend reading my Bible… I feel like I’ve gotten back on my path. People have told me they notice the transformation. God is here, and that has been part of the recuperation process for me. I healed physically, but also emotionally and spiritually in my time here.”
Sally says she can’t wait to return to Hope Recuperative Care as a volunteer, after she moves into her own place next week. “It’s bittersweet. I knew I was coming here temporarily. It’s great that I’m able to make the next step, but it’s also kind-of sad. I’ll miss being here.”