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The constant battle to survive Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Janice Belshee, right, of Medford, is looking to the community for help with caring for her 11-year-old daughter, Kristina Manchester, who has spina bifida. The two may be forced from their home at the end of July because of their inability to pay the $615 rent. Medford mom, ailing daughter, struggle with financial needs By Jonel Aleccia In hindsight, Janice Belshee says she never should have moved to Oregon. Back in 1998, she never should have packed up her severely disabled daughter, Kristina Manchester, and set out from Escondido, Calif., for a new life in a new state. But back then, the 36-year-old Medford woman says, she didn�t know what else to do. She says she was fleeing an abusive marriage and a bad divorce from an alcoholic ex-husband. She says she was trying to escape memories of the drunken car crash that killed her only surviving family members, a brother and a sister. She says she thought life across the border would be better. But it�s not. "This has been the hardest time of my life," Belshee sighs. Area social service workers agree. They say Belshee and her 11-year-old, born with spina bifida, have exhausted help in Oregon, but lack the resources to return to California. They say the only solution is for the Southern Oregon community to step up and help out with offers of housing and other basic support. "This is one of those truly unusual cases where this family truly falls through the cracks,�� says Connie Skillman, local manager for the community partnerships project with the state Department of Human Resources. Belshee�s troubles in Oregon began two months ago when her live-in boyfriend � and support � moved out. She and her daughter may be forced from their Medford apartment at the end of July because of their inability to afford rent. Their only income is the $512 a month Kristina receives in Social Security benefits, plus $230 a month for food stamps. Rent at the Poplar Drive place is $615 a month. Belshee says she finds it impossible to work because of Kristina�s fragile medical condition. The brown-haired, hazel-eyed girl was born with the disorder that leaves the spinal column exposed. She has no bladder or bowel control and must be catheterized several times a day. One of her kidneys is stunted; the other has recently begun to fail. Although Kristina has been on a waiting list for a kidney transplant since she was a toddler, Belshee believes she may never get one. "If you�re a child with many problems, they�ll give the kidney to a healthy child first," she says. It�s difficult to find a caregiver, but even if Belshee did, the former retail worker likely would not be able to afford it. "Someone who can and will care for Kristina would likely cost as much as she made," says Jean Atalla, program manager for the Jackson County Developmental Disability program. Back in California, Belshee was paid by the state to stay home and care for Kristina. In Oregon, no such program exists. "It�s not that she fell through the cracks, it�s that we don�t even have that piece of the floor," says Atalla. "When I moved here, I just assumed that it was the same thing," Belshee says. "Maybe that was naive." With virtually no income, daily life is a struggle for Belshee and Kristina. There�s little money for food or clothing and none for necessities such as the large-size diapers Kristina requires. And when the battery on her 1989 Jeep failed recently, followed closely by the alternator, there was no money to fix it, says Skillman. "This mother cannot be without transportation to medical care," Skillman says. Kristina�s father has little contact with the child. Accounts for a Help Kristina Fund have been set up at all local branches of Valley of the Rogue Bank, Skillman says. Offers of goods and services are also welcome. Belshee says she�s shy about asking for aid. "I don�t expect the community to rush out and give me tons of things,�� she says. "But I want the government to realize how hard it is for people like us." Perhaps Belshee could have made better choices, Skillman acknowledges. Perhaps she could have stayed in California, where her income was higher. "But the reality is that she is here now," Skillman says. "What are we going to do?" "If I had to do it all over again,�� adds Belshee, "I don�t think I would." Readers can reach Connie Skillman at 776-6164. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA