Client Story: Laverne

Overcome with emotions, Laverne cried happy tears at The Mustard Seed while picking out donated furniture for her new home.

Hurricane Maria forced Laverne, 48, to flee her destroyed home In October 2017 in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico after having lived there for 37 years. Laverne moved to Kissimmee and lived with her sister, Abigail, until FEMA eventually put her up in a hotel for several months.

Turns out, if it wasn’t for Hurricane Maria, Laverne said a Kissimmee doctor told her she would have died had she stayed in Puerto Rico.

Laverne had her first heart attack a week before the hurricane hit after experiencing numbness in her hand. A doctor in Puerto Rico told her she had an asthma attack, but the Kissimmee doctor said it was actually a heart attack.

Doctors performed surgery on Laverne in December and put in a mechanical heart valve. Laverne’s heart condition prevents her from working.

“Being at a hotel for seven months, I had nothing,” Laverne said. “I am so grateful to the community, but the best thing out of all of this is I’m still alive.”