{"id":432,"date":"2015-01-11T20:20:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-11T20:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/?p=432"},"modified":"2016-04-22T13:46:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T13:46:00","slug":"after-husbands-death-a-widow-is-left-with-grief-a-son-and-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/2015\/01\/11\/after-husbands-death-a-widow-is-left-with-grief-a-son-and-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"After Husband&#8217;s Death, A Widow Is Left With Grief, A Son &#8212; And Bills"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A third of North Texans are living without enough cushion to last more than a few months after a financial disruption. KERA\u2019s series \u201cOne Crisis Away\u201d put a face on asset poverty by chronicling four local families.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>One was a couple in Rockwall, Isac and Elizabeth Madrid. Days after the birth of their son, Isac was diagnosed with a rare disease. He was in and out of the hospital for more than a year and died last February.<\/p>\n<p>Since then Elizabeth has been managing medical bills, a lively toddler and her own grief.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YSN3kctg3Ro?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t let the glossy curls, cherubic smile and silky eyelashes fool you. Two-and-a-half year old Isac Madrid keeps his mom on her toes.<\/p>\n<p>A handsome, stubborn daredevil, little Isac is his dad all over again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPhysically and attitude-wise, he\u2019s just like his dad,\u201d Elizabeth says.<\/p>\n<p>And she doesn\u2019t mind one bit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have a little piece of heaven with us,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s comforting for me and the whole family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before Isac died, the Madrids were living in Rockwall, in a house they owned. Afterward, everything changed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI moved in with my parents and I put my house to lease and there\u2019s a new family living there,\u201d Elizabeth says.<\/p>\n<p>She gets a little over $1,300 a month by renting out her house. She says the money helps, but converting the property to a rental serves a more important purpose. The house in Rockwall is too big, too quiet and too full of memories.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s really good because I\u2019m never alone. I always have somebody around, and that\u2019s what I want,\u201d Elizabeth says. \u201cI want company and not be alone and sad and thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- meta slider -->\n<div style=\"max-width: 700px;\" class=\"metaslider metaslider-flex metaslider-435 ml-slider\">\n    \n    <div id=\"metaslider_container_435\">\n        <div id=\"metaslider_435\">\n            <ul class=\"slides\">\n                <li style=\"display: block; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-436 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_1-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-436\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Little Isac is 2 and is the spitting image of his dad. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-437 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_4-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-437\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Little Isac Madrid is a daredevil -- just like his dad. Photo\/Lara Solt\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-438 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_5-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-438\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Elizabeth says her house in Rockwall was full of too many memories, so she's renting it out. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-439 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_6-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-439\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Elizabeth says moving in with family helps her because they care for her son. Photo\/Lara Solt\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-440 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_7-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-440\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Elizabeth likes the new living arrangement because she is never alone. Photo\/Lara Solt\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-441 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_8-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-441\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Elizabeth shows her son pictures to keep his dad fresh in his memory. Photo\/Lara Solt\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n                <li style=\"display: none; width: 100%;\" class=\"slide-442 ms-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2015\/07\/madrid_for_block_web_0-700x400.jpg\" height=\"400\" width=\"700\" alt=\"\" class=\"slider-435 slide-442\" \/><div class=\"caption-wrap\"><div class=\"caption\">Elizabeth says she has good and bad days. Keeping busy helps, she says. Photo\/Lara Solt\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n            <\/ul>\n        <\/div>\n        \n    <\/div>\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n        var metaslider_435 = function($) {\n            $('#metaslider_435').addClass('flexslider'); \/\/ theme\/plugin conflict avoidance\n            $('#metaslider_435').flexslider({ \n                slideshowSpeed:3000,\n                animation:\"fade\",\n                controlNav:true,\n                directionNav:true,\n                pauseOnHover:true,\n                direction:\"horizontal\",\n                reverse:false,\n                animationSpeed:600,\n                prevText:\"&lt;\",\n                nextText:\"&gt;\",\n                slideshow:true\n            });\n        };\n        var timer_metaslider_435 = function() {\n            var slider = !window.jQuery ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_435, 100) : !jQuery.isReady ? window.setTimeout(timer_metaslider_435, 1) : metaslider_435(window.jQuery);\n        };\n        timer_metaslider_435();\n    <\/script>\n<\/div>\n<!--\/\/ meta slider-->\n<p>Since Isac first got sick, Elizabeth has been shouldering her family\u2019s workload. She would shuttle the baby to a relative\u2019s house, drive Isac to the hospital and rush to Plano for a full, eight-hour workday as an administrative assistant.<\/p>\n<p>Though she doesn\u2019t stop at the hospital anymore, she still works full time and spends every other free moment chasing her little guy.<\/p>\n<p>That doesn\u2019t leave a lot of time for grief, but Elizabeth would rather keep occupied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI mean some days are OK, some days are good, and some days are bad. I try to keep busy as much as I can,\u201d she says. \u201cI pretty much overbook myself, which is kind of bad, but it helps. It helps to be busy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth says one thing she isn\u2019t ready to face is the ever-growing pile of medical bills, thousands and thousands of dollars worth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome doctors forgave the debt, some didn\u2019t. And the ones that didn\u2019t, I can\u2019t afford to pay, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Elizabeth says. \u201cI mean I just don\u2019t want to worry about it. I think I\u2019ve had a good share of sadness and I don\u2019t want to be worried with bills. I know they deserve to be paid, but I just can\u2019t afford to pay them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She just needs more time, she says, something her husband didn\u2019t get enough of. Time to live and laugh. Time with his wife and the little boy who\u2019s his spitting image.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe sees pictures, and you know, he knows who his dad is. My mother-in-law actually had some Christmas lights outside the house and she told him that they were his dads, because they were ours,\u201d Elizabeth explains. \u201cSo now every time he leaves his grandma\u2019s he\u2019ll tell anybody, those are my daddy\u2019s lights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Isac remembers his dad by pointing out twinkle lights and flipping through photos. For Elizabeth, all it takes is one look at the boy in her arms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A third of North Texans are living without enough cushion&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":434,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-one-crisis-living-on-the-financial-edge","post_format-post-format-audio","byline-courtney-collins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":443,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432\/revisions\/443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/onecrisisaway\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}