SUNBURY — A 52-year-old single city woman says she needs help in providing Christmas gifts for the grandson she is raising, that 9-year-old who rubbed her hairless scalp, massaged her feet and made sure she took her medications while she battled breast cancer.
Sharon McDowell, once employed as a housekeeper, has received Social Security disability in the aftermath of her cancer diagnosis in June 2014. Chemotherapy, surgery and radiation treatments followed.
“I am just trying to get my energy back and get back on my feet,” said McDowell, a Philadelphia native who has lived in Williamsport, Lewisburg, Milton and West Milton.
Christmas is approaching. She finds it difficult to find money for gifts with the $646 she receives each month for her disability.
“I would like anything that makes him happy,” she said. “He likes Spider-Man, Batman. He’d like a bike. For him to be as young as he is, he has been very supportive. He said, ‘You and me are going to do this to the end.’ He is a very beautiful motivation in my life, and I love him very much.”
For the second year in a row, McDowell is turning to The Needy Family Fund to help her provide Christmas for her grandson. The Needy Family Fund, sponsored by The Daily Item, Sunbury Broadcasting Corp. and BB&T Bank, raises money during the holidays to assist the Valley’s less fortunate. It is administered by Salvation Army citadels in Milton and Sunbury. This year’s goal is $75,000. (Bill Foley)
