Shannon Litz/Nevada AppealBrenda Boni at home in Carson City on Wednesday. Boni, 55, is struggling with a bone disease. She is asking for help to move to Texas to be with her only child.
Brenda Boni needs help.
At 82 pounds, and with speech affected by a stroke that put her into an weeklong coma last month, the 55-year-old Carson City woman is a shadow of her former self.
Cerebral degenerative disease, degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia, diagnosed less than a year ago, have transformed Boni into a frail woman who looks older than her years. She is crippled by the diseases poised to confine her to a wheelchair and rob her of her mind.
She knows there's no hope for a recovery. Pain management and making sure she has someone around in case she suffers an epileptic seizure is all that she asks for.
Her daughter Amy, 25, is ready to take on the challenge. Except Amy, in nursing school, is in Texas and Boni is here.
"I just need to get to my daughter's, 'cause I don't have much time. I don't mind going to God, but I need to be with Amy and my granddaughter," said Boni on Wednesday from her home on Silver Sage Drive where her bedroom walls are filled with framed photographs of happier times. A vibrant Boni smiles out carefree in family pictures. Her cheeks are plump and rosy, her eyes sparkling.
Last April, Boni, then a full-time employee of Smith's meat department, went to the doctor for back pain. Ten months and umpteen doctor's visits later, she takes 22 medications a day, a new one added recently because of epilepsy brought on by the brain injury.
"Basically the stroke has now clouded my brain and they can't do anything about the bone disease," she said.
She began receiving disability. But that's all that sustains her here. Boni has no savings. She has a house full of furniture and family mementos she wants to take to Amy, but neither the strength nor the funds to get them to her.
Amy can contribute $1,000 toward the rental of a moving truck and car dolly. Another $3,000 is needed to cover the cost of airfare for Boni, gas to get the truck to Arlington, Texas, and a return airline ticket back to Carson City for the generous soul who volunteers to drive it.
"If nobody helps, that's OK, I understand," she said. "I'll just at least take all my pictures and find someone to drive my little car."
She needs help to pack, help to finance, help to die, said Boni.
"I need to be with my daughter," she said. "I need to get out of here but I don't have the money. I think I'll get better with Amy but if I don't, I need to die in her arms."
Amy set up an account in her mother's name at Wells Fargo. Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank branch to the Brenda Boni Travel Fund Acct. No. 8891350665.