Keeping the faith
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on November 5, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Takesha Greene and her family attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the 2014 Habitat for Humanity Faith Build. The mother is the recipient of the house being constructed by churches across the county.
Full SizeTakesha Greene would never walk again.
She would never live alone.
She would never own a home.
A shocking diagnosis -- and the partial paralysis that resulted in it -- took those things from her.
But the muscular disorder never stole her faith.
Faith that she would walk again -- a feat she accomplished, first with a walker, and finally, by herself.
The same faith that will, by the end of the 2014 Habitat for Humanity Faith Build, see her move into a place all her own.
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The warning signs were there, but until, back in 2011, the rough-housing mother of four was bedridden, Takesha had no idea what she was up against.
"One day I couldn't lift my legs, and I'd try again and it'd be fine," she said.
But from there, her condition deteriorated quickly.
She lost her ability to drive.
Then, her walking went.
And eventually, it reached a point where she could not even roll over by herself.
So she moved into her mother's single-wide trailer in Fremont with her sons.
"I couldn't walk, couldn't do anything, so I just thought the chance of us having our own home was just out," Takesha said. "It is kind of cramped (in the trailer). It is very cramped. Other than that, it's great. You know (my mother) spoils us all. I'm now feeling back to myself, so I'm able to help her more now. At first, I needed everybody to help me."
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She might be on the mend, but the help has not quite stopped.
Only now, it is not Takesha's family providing it.
Members of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, St. Francis Episcopal Church, St. Mary Catholic Church, St. Paul United Methodist Church, St. Luke United Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church, Stoney Creek Church and Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church have come together to give something to the woman who, just three years ago, thought she had lost just about everything.
Beth Rose, Habitat for Humanity's external relations director, said the Faith Build will also see help will come from First Baptist Church in Goldsboro and Mount Olive, the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Chapel and the First African Baptist Church -- that the churches have donated thousands of dollars and hours upon hours of labor to the construction project.
"Everyone comes together to help build a home, regardless of denomination," Ms. Rose said.
Saturday, they broke ground on Takesha's.
Her four boys, R'Keesh, 17, Taraji, 8, and twins JaThius and Jakius, 7, were they to celebrate with their mother.
"They are so excited," Takesha said. "They're ready for a yard they can run around and play in."
And as for their mother, she can't wait for the kitchen.
"I love to cook," she said. "I'm just ready for all of it.
"(When I found out I was going to be receiving a Habitat home) I went out and was like, 'Oh my God. This is my house,' and started crying," Takesha said. "The neighbors started coming over and asking if it was my land and I said, 'Yes, it is.'"
Her land to own.
Her land to walk across.
Her land to raise, on her own, the family that pulled her through the toughest of times.