Hot Cares Christmas – Daughter’s Prayers are Answered, as Mom ‘Breaks Out of Jail’

Here at Hot Cares, we really do see some heart-warming stories with ‘family’ at the centre of them, and that was definitely the feeling we got when Natasha’s email reached us.

This line, in particular, caught our eye.

“Can someone please assist with a jail break from an old age home?”

How could we resist hearing the details of this story, which Natasha proceeded to tell us?

“My mother is my life and she has had a very difficult one,” she said. “With my sister going missing 34 years ago, a difficult marriage, having to deal with my and my brother’s issues, she has been through a lot.”

But, it seems, the worst of the lot was what her Mom, Linette, has had to go through this year.

Linette lost the love of her life, Peter – Natasha’s step-father – in a car accident, which she was also in, and which left her with bad injuries and time in and out of hospital.

“We used to tease and call him ‘Peter, Peter pumpkin eater’ – he would smirk and my mother would blush and giggle,” said Natasha.

But, his death has hit Linette hard and now she finds herself alone in a retirement home in Humansdorp, outside Gqeberha, with little to look forward to.

“She often cries, saying to me that she wishes that it was her and not him that had left, and it breaks my heart,” said Natasha, who desperately wants to relocate her Mom from Humansdorp to Johannesburg, having recently rented a cottage with her two boys.

“Her body is healing well, but I think her heart needs to be with family,” said Natasha. “She requested a jail break not too long ago and complained that the people in charge of the retirement home don’t want her to smoke. She’s 72 and certainly not a child… I love her and would do anything for her.”

But finance is an issue and Natasha can’t afford to relocate Linette.

“I am frustrated,” said Natasha. “My Mom wants to be with us for Christmas, but I don’t know how. Please make her Christmas wish come true!”

Here at Hot Cares, we feel privileged to be able to make that happen and The Big Joburg Drive team were the lucky ones to break the news to Linette and Natasha, telling them that we will be taking care of Linette’s relocation to Jo’burg, including a flight and moving her furniture, so that she can live with Natasha and her grandkids.

On top of that, we’ll be giving her a Mr Price Home voucher to help furnish her new bedroom and a grocery voucher for R5000 to ensure a wonderful Christmas celebration for the reunited family.

Merry Christmas, Linette and Natasha!