A GoFundMe has been set up for 8-year-old Hunter Coleman and his mother. Coleman has cerebral palsy and has been in the hospital for over a month with pneumonia. (Courtesy photo)
Staff and faculty at Mississippi State University have set up a GoFundMe to support their coworker Tabitha Coleman and her eight-year-old son Hunter Coleman.
Hunter is living with severe cerebral palsy and is non-communicative. While he was getting his feeding tube changed, he fell ill with pneumonia and is currently on a ventilator.
Tabitha Coleman said her son has been at the Batson Children's Hospital in Jackson for over 35 days, and there is still no timeframe for when they can return home.
"I work a full time job, and I've exhausted all my leave," Coleman said.
Amelia Fox, an instructor at the MSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences who set up the GoFundMe, said Coleman is well known on campus from her service at the Post Office.
"It's amazing how many people know her, and she's always smiling, even though you know inside her heart she's crushed by the demands that she's under," Fox said.
Fox said Hunter Coleman has been in and out of the hospital for years, usually for a month or two at a time.
Fox said the GoFundMe was originally set up to raise money for a wheelchair assessable van, but now money raised will go toward living expenses because Coleman has been in the hospital for an extended period of time with no income.
"If we can raise $30,000 she can afford to put it toward the van, but right now we are desperately just trying to get her living money," Fox said. "She needs money to eat there in the hospital."
Fox said many others have donated gift cards to Subway and McDonald's because both restaurants have locations inside the hospital. Gift card donations can be mailed to Fox at P.O. Box 3833, Mississippi State University, 39762, and Fox will deliver the gift cards to the Coleman family.
"I'm very appreciative of everyone who has given already and who is going to give," Coleman said.
Fox said the support for Coleman has been amazing so far.
"All the faculty that know her have an outpouring for her, it's not just me," Fox said.
The GoFundMe for Hunter Coleman can be reached at www.gofundme.com/hunter-coleman-family. Updates are also posted on the page.