Post by admin4laney on Jul 26, 2005 8:53:34 GMT -5
While ailing girl recovers, vandals trash family car
By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer
The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy
Amanda Pratt (left) and her daughter, Emily Manion, 7, have been staying at the Hannaford Suites since April while Emily recovers from a bone marrow transplant.
NEWPORT - It was really the last thing the family could say they owned - a teal-green, 1996 Chevy Blazer, with a stereo system and a CD player.
It wasn't much. But it was theirs.
Saturday night the car was broken into, the windshield busted, the dashboard ripped apart and the CDs stolen. The face of the CD player was stolen too, rendering the player useless.
In all, the vandals caused more than $1,700 in damage. And Amanda Pratt has no idea how they will pay to have it repaired.
Since April, Pratt - a 26-year-old mother of two from Gallipolis, Ohio - has been staying at the Hannaford Suites Hotel on East Sixth Street, helping to care for her daughter, 7-year-old Emily Manion. Emily suffers from Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a genetic disorder that harms bone marrow, and in November 2004, she underwent a marrow transplant at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
For months she recovered at the Ronald McDonald House.
She was too weak to make the three-hour trip home, but her mother wanted to give her a more "home-like" setting. So they moved into the Hannaford, where Emily still may have to stay for another month to recover. There's a feeding tube in her nose, and her mother says the biggest challenge is getting her to eat.
"She still goes for her check-ups once a week," Pratt said. "She's been doing real well, and her new marrow is doing real good."
Pratt said she is able to afford the hotel room because her ex-husband, Neil Manion, is a Marine serving in Iraq, and he is paying for their stay.
But she says they have no extra money - not for movies, or a trip to the Aquarium or, most importantly, to repair their car.
"In December, we sold our mobile home so we could pay off some bills, including that car," Pratt said. "I feel like it's the last thing we really owned, and now this has happened to it."
Tom Collins, spokesman for the Newport police, said the department is investigating.
But Pratt said she couldn't let detectives dust for fingerprints because the substance they use could harm her daughter.
Pratt said the family's liability insurance will not cover the damage.
Pratt said she will continue to stay in the hotel room, with Emily, and her younger daughter, 14-month-old Olivia Pratt. Her husband, Brandon Pratt, works construction in Gallipolis, and visits on the weekends.
"On the typical day, we can't do very much," Pratt said. "Emily can't be near large groups of people, because her immune system has been weakened by radiation. ... Most of the time, we stay in the room."
"We're hoping she'll make a full recovery," her mother said. "Maybe it's time for something to go right."
HOW TO HELP
To visit Emily Manion's Web site, go to:
www.caringbridge.org/oh/emilymanion
Those interested can donate to her fund:
The Emily Manion Fund,
Ohio Valley Bank Co.
Gallipolis, Ohio
www.ovbc.com
E-mail rclark@enquirer.com
news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS0103/507260386/1059/news01
By Ryan Clark
Enquirer staff writer
The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy
Amanda Pratt (left) and her daughter, Emily Manion, 7, have been staying at the Hannaford Suites since April while Emily recovers from a bone marrow transplant.
NEWPORT - It was really the last thing the family could say they owned - a teal-green, 1996 Chevy Blazer, with a stereo system and a CD player.
It wasn't much. But it was theirs.
Saturday night the car was broken into, the windshield busted, the dashboard ripped apart and the CDs stolen. The face of the CD player was stolen too, rendering the player useless.
In all, the vandals caused more than $1,700 in damage. And Amanda Pratt has no idea how they will pay to have it repaired.
Since April, Pratt - a 26-year-old mother of two from Gallipolis, Ohio - has been staying at the Hannaford Suites Hotel on East Sixth Street, helping to care for her daughter, 7-year-old Emily Manion. Emily suffers from Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a genetic disorder that harms bone marrow, and in November 2004, she underwent a marrow transplant at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
For months she recovered at the Ronald McDonald House.
She was too weak to make the three-hour trip home, but her mother wanted to give her a more "home-like" setting. So they moved into the Hannaford, where Emily still may have to stay for another month to recover. There's a feeding tube in her nose, and her mother says the biggest challenge is getting her to eat.
"She still goes for her check-ups once a week," Pratt said. "She's been doing real well, and her new marrow is doing real good."
Pratt said she is able to afford the hotel room because her ex-husband, Neil Manion, is a Marine serving in Iraq, and he is paying for their stay.
But she says they have no extra money - not for movies, or a trip to the Aquarium or, most importantly, to repair their car.
"In December, we sold our mobile home so we could pay off some bills, including that car," Pratt said. "I feel like it's the last thing we really owned, and now this has happened to it."
Tom Collins, spokesman for the Newport police, said the department is investigating.
But Pratt said she couldn't let detectives dust for fingerprints because the substance they use could harm her daughter.
Pratt said the family's liability insurance will not cover the damage.
Pratt said she will continue to stay in the hotel room, with Emily, and her younger daughter, 14-month-old Olivia Pratt. Her husband, Brandon Pratt, works construction in Gallipolis, and visits on the weekends.
"On the typical day, we can't do very much," Pratt said. "Emily can't be near large groups of people, because her immune system has been weakened by radiation. ... Most of the time, we stay in the room."
"We're hoping she'll make a full recovery," her mother said. "Maybe it's time for something to go right."
HOW TO HELP
To visit Emily Manion's Web site, go to:
www.caringbridge.org/oh/emilymanion
Those interested can donate to her fund:
The Emily Manion Fund,
Ohio Valley Bank Co.
Gallipolis, Ohio
www.ovbc.com
E-mail rclark@enquirer.com
news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS0103/507260386/1059/news01
