Woman gets help after heart attack, fallen tree on home
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When life gets hard, even the toughest people need someone they can count on.
WREG met up with Jovonda Hemphill in Bartlett. She wants to surprise her high school friend, Kimmy Jones.
“It was like a domino effect,” Hemphill said. “It started with her health, her having a heart attack in July. Then a couple of weeks after that, a tree fell in her house. It was just all at once.”
Hemphill says she hopes the extra funds can help out. “I’m praying that this will help with the damage on her house, bills, day-to-day stuff, car notes, mortgages, light bills. All of that stuff doesn’t stop because life happens. I’m just praying that this helps her out in some way.”
So we count out the cash, $300 from News Channel 3 and $700 from our anonymous donor, and wait outside the rehab center where Jones has physical therapy.
We missed her, so Hemphill called to ask her to meet for lunch. Jones saw our camera and her friend and knew something special was about to happen.
“When I heard about your situation, I wrote to News Channel 3 to do Pass It On. So hold out your hand,” Hemphill told her.
“I’m so taken away right now,” Jones said. “The words– I can’t even can’t even express. Again, thank you. Life has definitely been really rough.”
Jones suffered a heart attack on July 29. Two days after she was released from the hospital, she was asleep when a tree from the neighbor’s yard came crashing down on her bed.
Firefighters had to pull back all the debris to get her out. Before she could recuperate from her health scare, the place where she had hoped to recover was no longer liveable.
“This just took me. Yesterday was hard, mentally. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the things step by step, because these are big hits,” said Jones. There’s no insurance on her home and she’s not able to work.
Passing it on also helps Jones in another way. It reminds her she may be down, but she’s not out. “I look and remind myself of this. his means a lot to me because if I don’t keep my faith, I don’t have anything.”
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