Winter 1998 Newsletter

Formatting Update: August, 1998

The Sullivan family

by Rita Lindle

When Brian Sullivan met his future wife, Mary, he had two children and she had nine. Three years ago they were married in Reno and moved into Mary's longtime home in Green Lake. Shortly thereafter, their 4-year-old son, Josh, was diagnosed with a rare leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. While Josh was in the hospital, their landlord asked them to move out and gave them only three days notice. Between attorneys and friends the Sullivan's eventually found housing in Kent.

Kathy Price, a social worker on the transplant team at Swedish Hospital, suggested that they look into home ownership through Habitat. They applied for their home in June and were approved in December of 1996.

Getting 500 hours in was a struggle for the Sullivan's. Brian's job with IGRS, an inventory control company, (where he was just promoted to Area Manager) kept him on the road in Western Washington. Mary was spending her time with Josh and his medical needs.

Everyone in the family helped with the hours, they would gather all the eligible family members together on Brian's free weekends and sometimes get up to 40 hours in a day. A couple other people they would like to recognize are the maintenance manager at their apartment complex and their daughter's boyfriend, who both put in many hours helping the family.

A year after being approved, on December 20th, the Sullivan's moved into their Walker Townhouse to celebrate Christmas. They are still settling in - with six of their children living at the townhouse. Josh is now 20 months out of transplant and doing very well.

Mary Sullivan says she just takes one day at a time, and is grateful for all the support from family and friends that have made their home possible.