text: Just Getting By Is Top Priority As String Of Tragedies Hits Family - tribunedigital-sunsentinel
  Just Getting By Is Top Priority As String Of Tragedies Hits Family
  December 2, 1986|By KEVIN ALLEN, Staff Writer
  Six years ago, Deborah and Normand Meunier seemed destined for the kind of life most young married couples look foward to.
  They enjoyed their jobs -- he as an art restorer and picture framer, she as a record store manager -- and they anticipated the birth of their first child. They felt confident about their future.
  They bought a car, and exactly one week later their life changed. Normand was injured in a traffic accident and ultimately required brain surgery to repair the damage. And that touched off a string of misfortune.
  The Meuniers, it seems, have been cursed ever since with tragic luck.
  ``I`ve been told I was put on this planet to show other people how lucky they are,`` Deborah said recently. ``But I guess I am lucky in some ways. I`ve still got Kristen.``
  Kristen Meunier, just turned 4, is small and fragile-looking for her age. There have been different diagnoses for her medical problems that have limited her growth and caused her to tire easily.
  Health officials say she has heart problems possibly complicated by chemical imbalances during her mother`s pregnancy.
  Despite an early diagnosis that Kristen`s mental development also would be affected, the little girl is bright and cheerful, bringing gifts of flowers and toys to a visitor.
  Deborah`s mother, who lives near their home in Hollywood and helps care for Kristen, buys the child`s clothes and toys at garage sales -- an ancient red wagon is one of Kristen`s favorites. New toys, even for Christmas, are probably out of the question for Kristen, her parents said.
  Deborah Meunier, 29, has been diagnosed as having uterine cancer, a condition that has resulted in her losing 30 pounds. It also weakened her to the point that she recently was forced to give up a job as a computer programmer at Florida International University -- the one opportunity that offered the family a rare glimmer of hope.
  ``I hated having to give up that job,`` she said. ``But it was just too much.``
  For awhile, the Meuniers were forced to turn once again to Deborah`s mother, Phyllis Kempthorne, for support. But with a meager income from Social Security, several serious health problems of her own and a house badly in need of repair, Kempthorne`s financial reserves have been virtually exhausted.
  ``It just seems as if everything is closing in right now,`` she said.
  Deborah and her 34-year-old husband said they want to be self-sufficient. They both completed computer-programming training this year, Deborah through a government rehabilitation program and Normand on his own. They both have worked as housekeepers and gas station attendants, always at low pay and with minimal benefits.
  But continuing health problems and bad breaks have kept them constantly flirting with disaster. While Normand was hospitalized for brain surgery, Deborah`s first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
  The couple moved to South Florida to ease Normand`s recovery and, a year later, Kristen was born.
  In Florida, Deborah worked for a while as a bookkeeper, but her health continued to deteriorate. Normand entered one vocational training program, but was forced to withdraw when his wife`s condition took a turn for the worse.
  When Deborah improved, both she and Normand entered and completed the computer class. But first, Deborah said, she had to agree to relinquish medical benefits from the government.
  She hasn`t received medical treatment, she said, for more than a year.
  ``Sometimes, it`s like the old saying: What can go wrong will,`` Deborah said. ``That`s why you have to have a sense of humor.``
  But at the same time, she can`t avoid agonizing over the future.
  ``I get scared that I`m going to die,`` she said. ``I wonder what`s going to happen to Kristen and how Normand and Mom will manage.``
  Deborah said she is hoping to qualify for Social Security disability benefits, but because she was employed recently she may have to wait another year. Otherwise, she`s hoping her husband finds a job with medical benefits.
  Some good news came a few weeks ago when Normand was hired on a temporary basis as a computer programmer at a major corporation in Miami. There is no guarantee he will be permanently employed there and no medical benefits, but it means money once again is coming into the household.
  ``Every day I tell myself I`ve been lucky,`` Normand said. ``I feel in a way we`re getting out of it.``
  Still, there are things the family needs, things lower on their list of priorities, but still important.
  Deborah, for instance, would like to find a part-time job she could do at home using her computer or bookkeeping skills. She has two electric typewriters, but both need repairs.