NOT HERE & NOT NOW

Hello and welcome to my petition. For a little while now, I have been looking for the right place and time to talk about my mom and why I need all the help I can get. Everyone knows and feels the same when it comes to having love for that person you call your mom. And when it you hear that your mom won't have but ten or less years to live, you want to do anything you can in your power to make those years comfortable and peaceful. And everything else is in God's hands.
I want to give as much information to help you understand why I desperately would like to offer my Mom, DeeDee Brooks, 38 years old, with three kids, a new life, starting with a new house. Why a house? In my mom's whole life, she has never once owned a house of her own. Rent, rent, rent. That's all we ever did was rent, then move. And it would be great for her so she could make it her own. I think that my mom deserves to have at least something that she could call her own; somewhere where she can go and relax without having to make sure someone isn't going to come over to inspect the house. So, you've gotten this far into reading my petition, that you may as well learn all there is to learn about my wonderful, beautiful mom. Here we go:

My mom was born Jan. 8th, 1969 as DeeDee Snodgrass, in Twin Falls, ID. She grew up with two other sisters, Rachal and Pamela. She lived life riding horses, dancing, and laughing. Her Grandmother, Frances E. Bell, raised her and taught her the rights and wrongs of life and, as a woman, how to stand strong and not let one thing break her down.

During High School, DeeDee moved to Wendover with her parents and siblings to find a new road to take. Oh how she dreaded this, but, the parents knew best. Was it not for this, she would have never met my Dad, Steve Brooks, and fell instantly for what they call "your high school sweetheart". They soon married and traveled to San Clamente, CA, where I, Amanda was born. My dad traveled a lot because he was in the military. But, my mom wanted to go back to Wendover to be around family. So she did. Two years after me, my brother Nathan, was born. Our family felt completed. Not all things are what they seem and, soon, my parents divorced, finding that marriage came to sudden.

For a little while, it was my mom, my brother and I, going from Vegas to Boise, Wendover to Buhl, etc. And for two years, things were difficult, so, my brother and I went to live with my Dad in Salt Lake City.

One day, my mom tells us that she is to have another baby! WOW! I was ten years old at the time and I was happy to maybe have a sister to dress up and teach her how to dance! Of course, my brother wanted a brother so he could teach him to play with Tonka trucks. And it was always wonderful to accompany my mom to her doctors' appointments and hear the heart beat of.... MY BABY SISTER!!! I "just knew" it would be.

But, happiness didn't last long.

On a Wednesday in late September, I was called out of my fifth grade class room to go home. I get my stuff, thinking that maybe I was going to the doctors or something. I walk to the front doors and see my Dad and my brother standing there waiting for me. Confused, I walk out in front of them to get to the car first. "Amanda, come sit here for a minute. I gotta tell you something." My dad hesitated in saying that to me. I sat down. He looked at me and Nathan, and my stomach tied in a knot. I knew it was my mom. He began telling us that my mom was in the hospital and they said that she may not live long and neither would our baby sister. But, there was one hope for her. Open heart surgery. At the time, all I thought was, "I am not going to have a mom." We went home and were able to talk to our grandma and aunts over the phone. I couldn't sleep that night. The only way I did was by accident. I had cried myself to sleep.

Now, my mom was 29 years old at the time she went into her open-heart surgery in Salt Lake City at the LDS hospital. She had Mitral Stenosis. A condition where the heart valve starts to thicken and close. Without that valve in working order, she would die. She had her Aortic and Mitral Valves replaced with artificial valves. The valves that had replaced her old ones were still in their experimental stage. And to add on to all the wild things going on, my sister was going into cardiac arrest and they had to do an emergency C-section to get her out and get her into an incubator. She was born 3lbs 12oz, 17 inches long. Her name is Haydon. And the first time I saw her was on T.V. She was on the news as the first baby delivered during open heart surgery.
They gave my mom a 90\% chance of dying. Without that surgery, neither my mom nor my sister would be standing here almost ten years later. And to get the surgery, you had to be near death. My mom's lungs were filling up with blood and she could hardly breathe. But, while still conscious and living, they couldn't do the surgery because of the risks involved. They watched over my mom like a hawk until she told them that she couldn't breathe and then she slipped into a peaceful stage. That's what my mom said it felt like; a peaceful slumber.

My mom is now 38 years old and my sister is now 8 years old. I have been there through all the side effects of the blood thinner, coumadin, that my mom has to take twice a day in order to not throw a clot. She has pain all the time from inflammation and keeps going. The doctors told her that her best bet was to be on Disability from there on out. That made her mad and she said no. She had three children to raise and $600 a month wouldn't do nothing. She now works with girls in a co-ed facility, The Caliente Youth Center.

About half way through the year 2006, my mom started to get a lot of pain in her left side. Going to the doctors, they told her that it was her inflammation and had her get direct cortazone shots in between her ribs in order to relieve the pain and get rid of the inflammation. Didn't work. She went in three times praying that this time it would work.

One day, I get a call telling me my mom had a mini stroke and she is in the hospital. I get there the next day, and she looks okay. She is still having trouble getting her thoughts to switch into words. But overall, no damage. The side effect she had to this mini stroke was bleeding. She bled for a month, thinking it would go away. She had to be carried into the hospital because she was so weak. She was so anemic that the nurses had a hard time getting I.V's started. Once they had luck, my mom was given SEVEN units of blood. Look that up, that is a lot of blood! But, where we live, we do not have a lot of other things they could do for her. She was transported by ambulance to St. George. When she arrived, the doctor cauterized her cervix. That helped for the moment being. They told her to stay out of work til it gets better and she feels better. She signed up for catostrophic leave, since all her vacation and sick leave was used up. She's been out of work for a month and a half, waiting for this leave to go through. Once it goes through, she is out of work for another ten weeks. She may never be able to go back to work.

My mom's fear was to have a menstrual period and be at the same point she was before. And it came true. She has now been bleeding for three weeks. Today (2-20-07), my mom was sent to see a cardiologist. Her fears became reality. They told her that she may have to have a hysterectomy in order to stop the bleeding. But, other than that, she now has Aortic Stenosis. She needs another heart surgery. But, as I told you before, she cannot have it until she is near death. But, they want to replace TWO valves again. And that means two surgeries because, being on coumadin and having past problems, it is the best way. They gave her ten or less years to live. I will be 29, my brother 27, my sister 19.

The worst is that this heart surgery could take her away from us. Who knows how many months it could be til it happens, but, we need her. We need her to teach us, to be there when Haydon graduates, to see us have children of our own. Though, that part is in God's hands, I want to give back as much as I can to her to show her my thanks for being the best damn mom I have ever known.

She deserves way more than a house. She deserves to live a pain free life. She deserves to be able to wake up and play with my sister or go on walks with our dog or even mop, vacuum, or do dishes without pain or getting dizzy.

I want her to have a peaceful place to go to when she needs to relax. And her own house would be just the perfect thing for that.

Of course I would LOVE to give her more, but, that will come later.

And because of her, I am going to become a nurse.

The reason to sign this is to let the staff of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, know that DeeDee Brooks deserves this more than anything. And they will know that when they meet her!