(Nov. 17, 2016) After the Byrd family experienced three deaths in the last two years, mounting debt rendered them unable to buy gravestones for the departed, but a recently launched gofundme campaign seeks to remedy the situation.
Salisbury resident Dr. Cynthia Byrd, executive director of the Julia A. Purnell Museum in Snow Hill, said the string of tragic family events began when her younger sister, Christina Johnson, was diagnosed with cancer in 2011.
“She passed away in Dec 2014 from ovarian cancer,” she said. “My husband and I adopted her two young daughters.”
As it turned out, fate had a few more tragedies in store for the Byrd family, most of whom live in Folkston, Georgia.
“At my sister’s memorial, my mother told me she had not been feeling well,” she said.
Within weeks, her mother, Beverly Byrd, was hospitalized with lymphoma.
“She went to the hospital for a biopsy and got an infection and died in March 2015,” she said. “We lost them both really close together.”
This year held more unwanted news for the Byrd clan.
“We learned that my father (Jim) has been diagnosed with cancer that’s metastasized to his lungs, so he’s struggling along on his own without my mom,” she said.
While Jim Byrd’s health issues are taxing the family emotionally, covering medical expenses without insurance is demanding their immediate attention.
“Most of the southern states did not expand Medicaid for lower income workers so they can not take advantage of Obama care,” she said. “If you cannot afford health insurance, you just don’t have any, its no better than it was before.”
As if the situation wasn’t sufficiently dire, Cynthia’s younger brother, Jamie, died this Halloween.
“It’s so unlikely that all these things could happen to one family in such a short period of time,” she said. “I feel like if I tell people they wouldn’t believe it.”
Each time a family member passed the Byrd’s scrambled to cover funeral expenses.
“We got the most modest arrangements that we could make,” she said.
To pay for the series of burials, Cynthia co-signed for a loan with her father, who, with no other options, used his motor vehicles as collateral.
“We did that for my Mom and we thought, ‘OK, we can get this done we can pay this loan back,’” she said. “We did that for my sister and now that my brother’s passed away, there’s not enough money in the world. People won’t stop dying.”
Although Cynthia is doing what she can financially, she said her means are limited.
“I have a very small income working for a tiny nonprofit,” she said. “I send back every penny I can, but I raise a family of four and there’s a limit to what can be done with that.”
During Jamie’s funeral earlier this month, Cynthia mentioned to Jamie’s daughter, LeAnn, that the family had been unable to buy gravestones for her sister, mother and, now, brother.
“By the time they passed away, the family was completely broke because everything has been poured into trying to take care of their medical needs,” she said.
When LeAnn mentioned the idea of starting a gofundme page, Cynthia was hesitant.
“It didn’t seem like the kind of thing I could do,” she said. “I was too proud to want to do something like that or even to tell people about our situation.”
Realizing other options were limited, the family put hesitation aside and created the Byrd Family Funerals gofundme page on Nov. 6.
“We picked $10,000 as a round number knowing that the headstones would probably cost about $3,000 and the other $7,000 would pay off the loan,” she said.
As of this Monday, the campaign had collected more than $2,900, meaning the gravestone arrangements can likely begin. What’s been equally rewarding, Cynthia said, is the outpouring of love and concern from friends and strangers.
“It’s not so much about the money, but it’s about that people cared,” she said. “It just seemed completely impossible — $10,000 dollars to us might as well been $10 million.”
Since starting the funding campaign, Cynthia has found people to be supportive and not judgmental.
“I think people could relate to the extremity of the situation,” she said. “You’re grieving at the same time that you’re trying to handle the practicalities of life.”
Regardless of the dollar amount, Cynthia said the kindness and encouragement the family has received is difficult to quantify.
“You feel so hopeless and lost and then suddenly these people care and you feel like your faith in the universe is restored,” she said. “There is enough support, there are enough friends and there is enough love in the world.”
The Byrd Family Funeral page can be found at gofundme.com/byrd-family-funerals.
Salisbury resident Dr. Cynthia Byrd, executive director of the Julia A. Purnell Museum in Snow Hill, said the string of tragic family events began when her younger sister, Christina Johnson, was diagnosed with cancer in 2011.
“She passed away in Dec 2014 from ovarian cancer,” she said. “My husband and I adopted her two young daughters.”
As it turned out, fate had a few more tragedies in store for the Byrd family, most of whom live in Folkston, Georgia.
“At my sister’s memorial, my mother told me she had not been feeling well,” she said.
Within weeks, her mother, Beverly Byrd, was hospitalized with lymphoma.
“She went to the hospital for a biopsy and got an infection and died in March 2015,” she said. “We lost them both really close together.”
This year held more unwanted news for the Byrd clan.
“We learned that my father (Jim) has been diagnosed with cancer that’s metastasized to his lungs, so he’s struggling along on his own without my mom,” she said.
While Jim Byrd’s health issues are taxing the family emotionally, covering medical expenses without insurance is demanding their immediate attention.
“Most of the southern states did not expand Medicaid for lower income workers so they can not take advantage of Obama care,” she said. “If you cannot afford health insurance, you just don’t have any, its no better than it was before.”
As if the situation wasn’t sufficiently dire, Cynthia’s younger brother, Jamie, died this Halloween.
“It’s so unlikely that all these things could happen to one family in such a short period of time,” she said. “I feel like if I tell people they wouldn’t believe it.”
Each time a family member passed the Byrd’s scrambled to cover funeral expenses.
“We got the most modest arrangements that we could make,” she said.
To pay for the series of burials, Cynthia co-signed for a loan with her father, who, with no other options, used his motor vehicles as collateral.
“We did that for my Mom and we thought, ‘OK, we can get this done we can pay this loan back,’” she said. “We did that for my sister and now that my brother’s passed away, there’s not enough money in the world. People won’t stop dying.”
Although Cynthia is doing what she can financially, she said her means are limited.
“I have a very small income working for a tiny nonprofit,” she said. “I send back every penny I can, but I raise a family of four and there’s a limit to what can be done with that.”
During Jamie’s funeral earlier this month, Cynthia mentioned to Jamie’s daughter, LeAnn, that the family had been unable to buy gravestones for her sister, mother and, now, brother.
“By the time they passed away, the family was completely broke because everything has been poured into trying to take care of their medical needs,” she said.
When LeAnn mentioned the idea of starting a gofundme page, Cynthia was hesitant.
“It didn’t seem like the kind of thing I could do,” she said. “I was too proud to want to do something like that or even to tell people about our situation.”
Realizing other options were limited, the family put hesitation aside and created the Byrd Family Funerals gofundme page on Nov. 6.
“We picked $10,000 as a round number knowing that the headstones would probably cost about $3,000 and the other $7,000 would pay off the loan,” she said.
As of this Monday, the campaign had collected more than $2,900, meaning the gravestone arrangements can likely begin. What’s been equally rewarding, Cynthia said, is the outpouring of love and concern from friends and strangers.
“It’s not so much about the money, but it’s about that people cared,” she said. “It just seemed completely impossible — $10,000 dollars to us might as well been $10 million.”
Since starting the funding campaign, Cynthia has found people to be supportive and not judgmental.
“I think people could relate to the extremity of the situation,” she said. “You’re grieving at the same time that you’re trying to handle the practicalities of life.”
Regardless of the dollar amount, Cynthia said the kindness and encouragement the family has received is difficult to quantify.
“You feel so hopeless and lost and then suddenly these people care and you feel like your faith in the universe is restored,” she said. “There is enough support, there are enough friends and there is enough love in the world.”
The Byrd Family Funeral page can be found at gofundme.com/byrd-family-funerals.