Health woes dampen Christmas for family

It has been a rough year for Lorraine and her family.

In August, Lorraine gave birth to her fifth child. Although the baby boy was fine, Lorraine was not.

“Everything you could have, I had it. I had gestational diabetes and a whole bunch of other stuff, I had it all,” she said with a laugh.

It meant several trips to the hospital, blood transfusions and lots and lots of bed rest.

A cleaner by trade, Lorraine’s inability to work cut the weekly household income of $700 down to about $350.

The father of her children has a job at a warehouse, but a mix-up at the motor vehicle bureau meant a driver’s license suspension from a 2010 DUI arrest had stayed on his record.

On his way to work early one morning, he was pulled over and ultimately put on house arrest for driving with a suspended license.

“I was on bed rest and he was on house arrest,” Lorraine said with a laugh. “I know I’ve got it bad and its been a rough year,” said Lorraine, who has been out of the Salvation Army homeless shelter for three years now.

“But I look at other people who have it a lot worse, and I figure if they can get through it, so can I,” she said.

Nevertheless, getting through Christmas and presents for five kids — ages 12, 10, 8, 2 and four months — was not something Lorraine, whose name has been