MUSKEGON, Mich. — A Muskegon family struggling with financial hardship after their daughter's cancer diagnosis received an unexpected gift this week — nine months of housing payments to help them through their ongoing battle.
The Flater family faced mounting financial pressure since youngest daughter Liara was diagnosed with leukemia at age 7. She is now 9 years old and still receiving treatment.
"We were in the hospital pretty much an entire year. We almost lost her five times," mother Shytelia Flater told FOX 17.
WATCH: Family surprised with housing payments gift
The financial strain has been overwhelming for the parents, who have had to make difficult choices between work and being available for their daughter's medical needs. Shytelia quit her career to become the full-time caregiver for Liara
"I'm afraid that if even if I work part time, I'll get a call and have to go through traffic. I don't feel like it's safe enough to do that yet," Shytelia said.
To make ends meet, the Shytelia and father Daniel resorted to donating plasma and doing DoorDash deliveries on weekends. Despite these efforts, rent has been late for months.
"We were getting to the point where we were going to have to start making some difficult decisions," Daniel said.
An anonymous friend nominated the family for a contest through Legacy Financial Network. The family thought they were attending a final interview on Thursday, but organizers had already decided to help them.
"When I heard their story, there was no need for a final interview. I said, let's just bring them in. Let's just pay their mortgage for them, pay their housing costs until their daughter is done with her cancer treatments," said Michael Markey with Legacy Financial Network.
The surprise gift includes nine months of housing payments and Christmas presents for all three children.
"This was very necessary," Daniel told FOX 17 after the surprise. "This kind of backs that off and allows us to get the breathing room to maybe take care of some of the other debt."
The timing couldn't be better as the family approaches the holidays while continuing their daughter's cancer treatment.
"Being able to do this for the family, hopefully give them the ability to just kind of take a deep breath in the holidays and focus on them," Markey said.
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