About

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My name is Justin Brock.  When I was 4 years old, my little brother was 1 year old and my sister was a newborn.  My father decided to leave our family at that time so my mom became a single parent of 3 very young children.  She worked several jobs at one time to keep us in a home, food on the table and clothes on our backs.  She did this all on her own.  We didn’t have much but we had her and her determination to keep her children healthy, happy and safe from the world.  My mom was Kathleen Kind (Blondie to her friends) and she died of breast cancer when I was 20 years old.

Right before Christmas of 2000 she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and the doctor gave her 8 months to live.  She began treatment and she made it 6 months before the cancer took her from us, she was 51 years old.  I was 20, my little brother was 17 and soon to graduate high school and my sister was 16 years old.  I was working full time and putting myself through college classes.  My brother and sister were still in high school. 

In order to keep taking care of her children when she passed, she entrusted everything, money, home, etc. in an attorney so that she could be sure we would be ok without her there to watch over us.  That attorney took my mom’s money (and lots of other peoples’ money and homes too) and kept it for himself then promptly disappeared.

On the day of her funeral, my brother, sister and I went home after the service and I began mowing the yard when a man came up and started taking pictures of our home.  I asked him who he was and what he was doing.  He informed me that he purchased our home that day through a county auction, that it was now his home and we had to leave.  He was somewhat compassionate in giving us 30 days instead of the required 3 to vacate the premises.  It was quite overwhelming for a young man of 20 but I found an apartment that would accept us and did everything in my power (just as my mom did) to make sure that my brother and sister were taken care of, even though it took every bit of money I made to keep that apartment. 

You see, that attorney obviously didn’t have a wonderful mother like we did, she taught us kindness, compassion, responsibility, to work hard and play often.  To help others in any way that you can every day.  I took my mom’s lessons and her example to heart.  I try to do my best everyday to make sure that she would be proud of the man I became.  That is why I have strived for many years to create the Blondie’s Blessings Foundation in her name. 

If I can ease the mind of single mothers with cancer in any way, I plan to do everything I can to make it happen.  Some of the ways we can do that is assistance with housing expenses, daycare, automobile/home repairs, meals, house cleaning, clothes, birthday/Christmas presents and so much more.  Blondie’s Blessings Foundation is how we can all help those ladies that are in need in our community who are doing their best just to keep their children healthy, safe and happy through the hardest time of their lives. 

My mom had to go through cancer wondering how to pay the electric bill, grocery bill, rent, medical expenses, etc. when she was so sick from chemotherapy that she could not even get out of bed, much less go to work and she was the sole provider for her children.  In her honor, I want to make sure that other single mothers do not have to experience what my mom went through while fighting cancer and raising her children alone.