The first time Deanna Brown re-learned how to walk, her son Myles was learning right alongside her.
Over the past 10 years, Deanna Brown has spent a lot of her time in the hospital undergoing surgeries and dealing with complications from Von Hippel-Lindau, a disease that causes benign and malignant tumors to develop in multiple organs in the body.
This year, she has only spent about two weeks out of the hospital since January, according to her husband Josh Brown.
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As her full-time caretaker, Josh Brown runs the household, cares for the couple’s two children, one of whom is about 2 years old, and acts as Deanna’s live-in nurse.
His one saving grace, he said, is Myles. When the couple found that they could not afford to give Myles a party when he turned 11 on May 14, they turned to the community, and the community came through for them.
On May 17, Freedom Jeep Club, a non-profit group with a mission to help others, drove through the neighborhood after seeing the family’s story online. They dropped off gifts for Myles and got out of their cars to pray for the family, Deanna Brown said.
Myles said he was expecting the celebration but did not expect to get so many presents.
One of Myles’ biggest goals in life is to help his dad take care of his mom, he said.
His dad said he helps by doing dishes and sometimes even cooking meals for his sister.
“While she was in the hospital, I had to take a bunch of stress off my dad and help clean around the house and help with my sister. It has just been a lot for him so I have been doing that to help him out,” he said. “There is a bunch of stress on them and they deserve more than stress.”
When he saw everyone who came out to celebrate his birthday, Myles said it was heartwarming.
For his parents, they said it meant a lot to them.
“We never expected that much help. …It has been really awesome to have some help because the struggle has been really crazy with me not being able to work,” Josh Brown said. “It was really awesome of them to do, that was really cool.”
According to Keith Faulkenberry, a spokesman for Freedom Jeep Club, the group started after Hurricane Helene, when many members traveled to Western North Carolina to contribute to aid efforts.
Its motto is “people helping people,” he said.
Reporting by Chloe Collins, Gaston Gazette / The Gaston Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
