Sisters Start GoFundMe To Help Maplewood Area Mom Get To Work

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The 189,236 people in New Jersey who've been diagnosed with coronavirus include doctors, police, and nurses who caught it while trying to save the rest. While some of them have recovered, others have passed away — especially in spring when there was a shortage of personal protective equipment and testing — and still others have lingering effects even as they return to their health care jobs.

Among the last group is Nandy Lekhai, 55, who lives with her adult daughters near the Irvington/Maplewood border. Her daughters started a GoFundMe for her because her vehicle broke down and she needs to get to work as a nurse's aide. She is struggling to pay bills and deal with the aftereffects of having had the virus in April.

Over the weekend, her daughter Savitrie wrote in a Neighbor Post on Maplewood Patch, "Good morning everyone. I'm sharing this post in support of my mother. She's a health care worker and she is one of the hardest working women I know. She's always helping everyone when they need help now it's time that I'm reaching out for help for her. Below is the fundraiser me and my sister created for her. Anything is appreciated and she really needs a car for work. https://gf.me/u/yjn2sr"

On the Gofundme page, her mom wrote, "I’ve been in the health field for over 20 years. Came from New York living in an apartment with my family trying to gain a better life. We saved enough to move and have our children live in a better environment. I spent years working and caring for others who aren’t able to help themselves. Now with the pandemic I’ve been doing ok to work and keep the lights on in our home."

She described having the virus: "Because I work as a health care work I caught the coronavirus virus. The virus is the worse thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. The body ache and pains is so bad I can’t even describe it. I was out of work for two weeks when I caught the virus. Now I’ve been getting nerve pains. Tingling and numbness in my arm. Random aches and pains. Headaches. I still have numbness in two fingers."

She said, "But I push through and work because I know we are short of workers and we are needed. I drive to and from work almost 30 miles each way five to six days a week. Sometime we have double or even triple shifts. Things been very hard. And now my car went bad. Uber and Lyft is taking a toll on me. I am asking for anything right now that can be donated to help me get another used vehicle so I can get to and from work each day. I will appreciate anything given."

Besides donating through the Gofundme, Savitrie, the younger daughter, can be emailed at savvydl09@yahoo.com.

Nandy works at Van Dyke Park Place, an assisted living facility in Hawthorne, as a nurse's aide.

Savitrie said her older sister also has some health problems. However, both sisters tested negative for the virus.

"Attached is a photo of my mother at her job," she said. "Sometimes she works double shifts or even triple shifts. We tell her to relax and take it easy after she recovered from covid-19. But she still has numbness in her fingertips and doctor's cannot figure out why."

She added, "My dad recently had to have emergency surgery to remove a cataract from his right eye. Health insurance only covered for half and he still has to have surgery done on his left eye. We're holding off on his surgery because she still needs a car for work and we have to pay the mortgage."

She said, "Life has hit us hard and I'm trying my best to work overtime at my job to pay the bills in the household but there's only so much rest my body needs."

The Gofundme is here. https://gf.me/u/yjn2sr

Do you need help with heat, rent, and more?

As a reminder, during the State of Emergency in New Jersey, no tenant is permitted to be evicted from their home or apartment for the inability to pay rent. Talk to your local mayor's office if you are experiencing difficulties. The CARES act has made money available to help with rent in each city. More information is here.

Also, New Jersey residents can get help with heating and energy bills. Information is here.

Various other avenues of relief and benefits have also been made available, including family leave for 12 weeks if you can't work due to your child's school or camp being closed, and changes to unemployment rules to help those who were at a job for a short time, or freelancing.

Coronavirus numbers

On Saturday, Gov. Phil Murphy said the number of coronavirus cases statewide had risen to 189,236, with 14,114 confirmed deaths, including 3 new deaths and 427 new cases confirmed since the day before.

The daily death rate in New Jersey has been declining since back on April 30, when it reached a peak of 460 residents in 24 hours.

Many other states reached record daily death rates in July (see the daily totals in each state here). They have pulled back on their reopenings, including Texas, which closed bars after seeing record numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.

New Jersey updated its list on Tuesday to 35 states that residents must quarantine upon returning from. Read more.

As of a week ago Thursday, 165,000 Americans had died of coronavirus, and more than 5 million have tested positive.

Here are statewide coronavirus resources:

• NJ COVID-19 Information Hub: https://covid19.nj.gov/
• General COVID-19 questions: 2-1-1
• NJ COVID-19 hotline: (800) 222-1222

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