BELLE GLADE, FL -- The job of mom can be tough. Being a single mom is even harder. And when you're the sole caretaker of a very sick child, life can seem overwhelming at times. But a Belle Glade mother is finding hope in the strength of community and the kindness of strangers.
Skii Sumerall lives in the rural community of Belle Glade. It's a community known more for agriculture than affluence.
Skii would like nothing more than to be a typical 12-year old and play with her Bratz dolls. But when your liver is failing and you need a transplant... life is anything but typical.
Skii has Primary Sclerosis Cholaningitis.
"The liver disease (Skii has) is kind of rare. You normally find it in the elderly," said Landy Brown, Skii's mother. "One comment that one of the doctors made was that you really don't see it in kids, maybe in the third world countries where the water is polluted."
Skii's well being is the family's primary concern, but finances are a close second. Landy has insurance, but it's not nearly enough to cover the cost of everything her daughter needs.
That brings us back to Belle Glade... and how this is a close-knit community. People started thinking... 'what we can do to help Skii.'
The folks at Sugarcane Golf Club said they could host a benefit golf tournament. Plattner's Belle Glade G-M said, he'll sponsor a hole-in-one contest and donate a car.
Suddenly, a community is coming together to help a little girl who needs a new liver.
"I just thank God because... what's so funny is that the people that God has been placing in my path to really, really help are perfectly strangers," Landy said.
Those strangers hope to raise 100-thousand dollars, to cover Skii's medications for the first year after her transplant.
And she will get her transplant... because after all... she has goals to achieve.
"I want to be a doctor when I grow up," Skii said. Why? she's asked. "To help other people," she replied
The Children's Organ Transplant Association has set up a trust fund for Skii. Money raised or donated will go to her medical care. The benefit golf tournament is Saturday, September 12th at Sugarcane Golf Club.
For information click here, call the Sugar Cane Golf Club at (561) 996-6605 or call Bill Underwood at Liberty Media Group (561) 267-2632
