Pastor With Son Battling Cancer Faces Eviction: My Fear Is Being Homeless With a Kid With No Immune System
A pastor and single mother "by choice" with a son battling cancer is now asking for help as she struggles to pay mounting medical bills and fight being evicted from her home.
The Reverend Brandee Jasmine Mimitzraiem of Embry Chapel A.M.E Church in Utah, who declares on her bio page on the church's website that she is a "proud single mother by choice of two wonderful sons," revealed in a Good4Utah report Wednesday that she is overwhelmed with trying to care for her family and the church at the same time.
"I want stability for my sons...," Mimitzraiem told Good4Utah. "I'm stuck between doing what's right for my congregation and doing what's right for my kids. And I'm here, and I'm just – I'm torn – and it hurts, and I'm afraid, and I really don't know what's going to happen or what to do."
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She explained that her church is supposed to provide housing for her as a pastor but lately the budget has been tight and on Monday she got an eviction notice from her landlord. With one of her sons, Jafaralsadiq, 4, currently being treated for a type of cancer affecting the muscles called rhabdomyosarcoma, it became all too much for her.
"I still have church stuff to deal with and figure out how we're going to pay our bills, and he's still sick," she wept.
"My fear is being homeless – is being homeless with a kid who has no immune system...," she said. "The nurses – the home nurses – that come by in order to make sure that he's okay, where do they go? What address do I give them? Where do they deliver his medical supplies? It's extremely – it's scary," she added.
She says the only thing keeping her going right now is her faith and she is hoping to raise $10,000 through a crowdfunding website called Crowdrise to help with her son's medical care.
"Four year old Jafaralsadiq is one third of the way through his treatments for cancer (rhabdomyosarcoma). He's defeating it at every turn, but he's not there yet. While the treatment is working just as it should, the cost of his care is every (sic) increasing. He has an awesome mother, Brandee Mimitzraiem, and super cool big brother, Salahaldin. Together they need your help to defeat the enemy: Rhabdomyosarcoma," begins the appeal for the pastor's son on the website.
"Your financial support makes his care possible, and it eases the burden this family has to bear. Your gifts literally save his life! Give generously. Rhabdomyosarcoma isn't defeated that easily," it added before going into a Stars Wars version of how the boy battle with the disease.
The Christian Post reached out to the church Thursday for further comment on the pastor's situation but there was no answer.
The Rev. Mimitzraiem is described on the church's website as a fifth generation member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church who accepted God's call on her life to preach after matriculating at the University of Missouri's flagship campus in Columbia, Missouri.
She is currently a candidate for the doctor of philosophy degree in theology and philosophy at Drew University. She is also published and has lectured at the national and regional level of the American Academy of Religion and the National Women's Studies Association. Her highest honor was being asked to present on hip-hop and theology for the 5th Episcopal District of the A.M.E. Church.
