“With Eva’s regained health, renewed spirit and purpose to her life, her desire is that
others in need will find the Free Clinic will change their lives too with help and hope!”
Quote from Eva’s Story… by Jan Kuehnert, Director of Development, Development Office
May 09, 2007
EVA’S STORY
I’m sitting at Starbucks this bright morning talking to a woman who is moving out of the Women’s
Residence in a few weeks. She’s pretty and around forty years old, soft spoken but determined,
intelligent but humble, an optimist but a realist, her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm for the life she
has today and her name is Eva, for purposes of this article.
Eva is one of the many success stories that Susan Canty, Director of the Women’s Residence,
has seen in 13 years with the Free Clinic and I think Eva’s story is worth relaying to you, our
esteemed donors and friends, to demonstrate the possibilities of renewal and accomplishment of
our clients at the Free Clinic.
Eva was one of the invisible people we all pass by every day. Today, through her own
determined hard work and the Free Clinic’s help, she has walked through horrific trials-both
personal and professional, that took her from the depths of hopelessness to once again being
visible and leading a productive life.
By looking at Eva today, you would never know that she has recently been through so much
heartache. She is a well-groomed lady, vivacious and kind. Eva says she has never felt like a
victim of life. She is college educated, an only child from a middle class family who enjoyed a
great youth and was surrounded by two loving parents and a Grandmother she adored and who
adored her. She was certainly not someone you would predict would be homeless one day, sick,
out of work and desperate.
Her goals in life were lofty. Like many people, she dreamt of a career in TV, which materialized
for her when she was in her late 20’s as a promotions assistant at HBO Television in New York
City.
For a while, she lived a “normal life,” as a wife, married for five years to a man she didn’t love but
hoped she could one day. As a career woman, she was a contributing member of society, which
gave her the stability she always sought. Sadly, she realized she was in an abusive marriage, but
found the courage to end it. She and her husband had been longtime friends, but she found she
didn’t really know him.
Eva exudes self-confidence, in a humble way, which draws people to her. This attraction drew her
next love to her and she smiles as she tells me it was a ten-year loving relationship. But this
relationship also proved to be a volatile one from which she eventually needed to get out. That
change brought her to FL, at the invitation of her friend Grace, who encouraged her in the
summer of 1998 to make the move.
Eva reflects back now that she had been feeling sick for about one year but attributed it to food
poisoning. She felt the food poisoning had negatively changed her health, her life and that it was
draining her emotionally. She felt like she had died inside. She didn’t do drugs or any of “the bad
stuff” and knew her health was fragile. She blamed it on her low paying 12 hour per day job,
which demanded she work six days per week, but did not provide enough money to pay her bills
and did not provide enough time off to rest.
In February 2006, she felt herself falling, financially and emotionally and didn’t know how to stop.
Her sharp mind told her this was her breaking point; she knew it in her heart. She sensed she
was going to be evicted from her apartment, which would leave her no choice but to go into a
homeless shelter.
Quickly, Eva mentions “Daisy” her seven- year old miniature Doberman, her companion and the
one bright spot in her life that kept her going. Daisy was the child she never had but loved just
the same. Eva confides that she could accept going into a Shelter, but had Daisy gone into one
too, it would have completely broken her. With no more will to keep on going, for the first time in
her life she saw no future.
She had to give away all her personal items and thankfully, a good friend, Steve took custody of
her beloved dog. He took Eva directly to the Salvation Army Shelter that same
night. Eva’s first night of homelessness undoubtedly is now permanently etched in her mind, as
momentum for ensuring that her future will be successful.
The next few months weren’t pleasant… She spent six weeks at another shelter, then returned to
the Salvation Army Shelter and had a job for just eight short days but physically couldn’t keep up.
Realizing that she was not physically well, she checked herself into the ER at Bayfront Hospital.
Upon examination, the Physicians discovered that her low blood count was extremely low and that
she was battling cancer and didn’t know it. The Doctors confirmed that within the next forty-eight
hours, she most likely would have experienced kidney failure and her ultimate death.
The thoughts going through Eva’s mind were paralyzing. She had no family to consult with nor
did she have money to fight this disease, much less get second and third opinions. So she
accepted her destiny with resolute faith and listened to her Doctors, who, with the help of
Hospice, got her into a local Nursing Home for five months of chemotherapy treatment for gastric
lymphoma and bleeding ulcers.
She did not feel sorry for herself and refused to focus on the fact that when she looked in the
mirror, she saw no eyebrows and eyelashes. Now was no time for vanity, she was in survival
mode only. She was determined to carry on. She was going to beat this enemy. Her loss of hair
was an easy solution to fix. In fact, wigs were easier to manage than her own hair and she looked
stylish in them.
The experience “hit her straight away” but she hung onto the Doctor’s words of encouragement
that this disease could be eradicated and a medical turn around could happen for her.
Hospice put Eva in touch with the Director of the Women’s Residence, Susan Canty and her life
turn around began to happen. As Susan interviewed her, she asked Eva about her life goals and
aspirations prior to admitting her into the program. Eva says she felt an
immediate connection to Susan and to the Free Clinic’s Women’s Residence. And after moving
in, she found it to be such a positive place and that the program was so
much more than a springboard for finding permanent housing. She also found this was not a
place to go if a woman was looking for hand holding, but rather the program was about building
self-reliance. The program taught accountability, patience, compassion, perseverance, respect
and dignity of others and especially “to believe in yourself. ”
Eva thinks the Free Clinic has resources like no one else-all under one umbrella and she found
the staff to be approachable and helpful, especially the Executive Director, Jane Egbert. She felt
Jane respected her and was a real person, accessible to the clients. As she departed the Women’
s Residence, the thank you flowers she gave Jane, were a small token of her appreciation for
believing in her and giving her the chance to change her life.
Her cancer is something she is thankful for. Through it, she experienced a rebirth, a renewed
walk of faith and a second chance at the important things in life. She actually feels more like
herself now than ever before.
Staying true to her and knowing she’s in control of her life now has spurred a new set of
immediate and long-term goals. She knows she has it in her to survive-no matter what. Her
spiritual walk allowed God to lead her to the job she now has secured with a local radio station,
putting her back into her field of media.
All the other details have fallen into place for her life too. The money she was able to save while
working and staying at the Women’s Residence program enabled her to secure a one-year lease
on a little fixer upper house with a nice landlord who is kind and helpful. Susan continues to stay
in close contact with her during her transition and move.
Her long-term goals include being a role model to other women, who find themselves in similar
situations and to eventually bring her treasured dog, Daisy, back into her life,
once she can again provide for her needs. Additionally and despite her past, she believes God
will bring her a life partner with whom she can grow old.
Eva’s a beautiful example of a person whose life was given back to her as a result of her
opportunity at the Free Clinic Women’s Residence. She is and always will be grateful for the life
lessons learned there. She appreciates the help she received from the volunteers and staff of
the Free Clinic, in her journey back to stability and independence. Now she is giving back as
often as she can by being a volunteer herself.
The End
P.S. No doubt Daisy will be joining Eva in the very near future and they will surely have a happy
life.