Sabine Pass family prays for miracle

Mary Meaux
The Port Arthur News

SABINE PASS June 09, 2007 04:18 pm

— Sitting at a table in his FEMA trailer, Craig Ray flipped through photos of him and his wife, Linda, and their two children.
The past few years have been tough on the couple; in 2005 Hurricane Rita destroyed their century old family home and in March Linda was diagnosed with untreatable small cell cancer of the pancreas and lungs.
“She was my first girlfriend,” he said. “We were 12 and 13 at the time, then we married when we were 15 and 16.”
Just months ago Linda went to a local hospital three separate times to check on a knotting feeling in her stomach. She was released each time because emergency room doctors did not find anything wrong with her. Eventually she went to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where the cancer and its severity were diagnosed.
“After the diagnosis they asked her why she took so long to go to the doctor,” he said. “This has just snuck up on us.”
Linda went through treatment for some time with no relief because the type of cancer she has spreads quickly. Doctors said there is nothing more they can do and advised Craig to keep Linda comfortable.
“We’re hanging on to our faith,” he said. “It’s harder for her to accept things.”
Craig is a commercial crabber, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who was one of the first commercial crabbers in Sabine Pass. The family has no insurance.
“Bills are a little tight, making it hard to rebuild our home,” he said as he placed his sun bronzed arms on the small table near the photos. Linda doesn’t stay in the trailer, too claustrophobic said told her husband, and instead stays with family members who also help care for her. Because of her health problems she was unable to be with her husband during the interview.
Outside, concrete steps and a mound of dirt are all that remain of the home the Ray family once lived in. The home sported 10 foot ceilings and a bathroom about the size of the whole trailer, he said. Hurricane Rita moved the home 25 feet from its foundation, filled the home with nine feet of water and ripped walls apart. The family lost everything including cherished home videos.
The family are members of God’s Church of Texas, a recently formed church in the small coastal city. The couples’ faith in God is present even in the temporary abode; from a magnet on the oven with the words ‘got faith?’ to a poster listing many different names for Jesus Christ.
Family and friends have organized a fundraiser that will feature a Fun Run to begin at 10 a.m. at The Place in Sabine Pass and end at Skeeter’s in Sabine Pass. There will be an auction, food, drinks and live music.
The money raised will help with medical bills and Linda’s funeral when that time comes. Craig doesn’t dwell on the idea his wife of 27 years is near death — he is praying for and awaits a miracle.
In a small town where its inhabitants know each other on a first name basis and held to each other for survival after the 2005 storm, the news of Linda’s cancer hit hard.
“One of her main concerns is that she may not be here when her son graduates from high school or see her grandbabies grow up,” longtime friend Nadine Williams said. “She would love to see her life go on.”
Williams said Linda doesn’t know if she will live long enough for federal aid to come through and to see her home rebuilt.
“After Rita, this is very upsetting,” she said. “We’re still trying to get our lives together and someone in the community comes down with a life threatening illness. Sabine Pass is like a family you’ve never seen before.”
Stana Towne, a friend of the couple for the past 35 years, calls Linda fun loving and happy go lucky but adds the cancer is taking its toll on her friend.
“Linda’s brothers came down from Houston and took her out, she fell asleep,” she said. “She told me ‘why do I have to die. I have so much to offer.’”
Linda Ray is the type of mom who attended every one of her children’s school and sporting events and enjoys playing with the grandchildren.
“Something like this affects the whole community,” she said. “We are all like one big family in Sabine Pass.”
To donate, contact Becky Bellard at 971-3663 or send donations to Linda Ray Benefit Fund, account number 1062258, Johnson Space Center Federal Credit Union, 1330 Gemini, Houston, TX. 77058.

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