February 12, 2025

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Health's Like Heaven.

Tarrant County mom starts fundraiser after COVID infects kids

A North Richland Hills single mother of five is asking for help paying bills after she and her children were all infected with COVID-19.

Jessica Webber just returned to work Monday at Carter Blood Care after running out of paid time off to help cover bills during her COVID illness.

She worries she won’t have enough income to cover the medical bills, mortgage, car payment and food for her children because of her time away.

Her $5,000 fundraiser that began Friday on GoFundMe would go to paying bills and buying food, she said. As of 8 p.m. Monday, she had raised $1,545.

Webber said she has looked into other options for financial help, like unemployment and disability benefits from the CARES act, but that aid will expire on Dec. 26.

Webber said she isn’t sure how long it will be before she is ready to work full-time at blood drives. Even though she leads a healthy lifestyle — she doesn’t use nicotine, alcohol, caffeine or fast food and was training for a marathon — recovery from the virus hasn’t been easy.

“Lately I’ve felt like I could just sit in a recliner and stare at a wall,” she said. “I’m officially negative for coronavirus, but this recovery is really kicking me.”

She said while she was able to return to work Monday, she isn’t sure she will have the energy to stand for long periods of time during blood drives.

All of her children had COVID-19 but now have tested negative, though she said her 11-year-old daughter had a hard time kicking the infection. They returned to school Monday.

“They’re a little traumatized I think,” Webber said. “But they’re healthy now. It just scared them as far as what would happen to them because they saw how sick I was.”

Her children now have a new outlook on COVID-19 prevention efforts, she said, and will do more to encourage classmates at school to wear masks.

Webber said her kids have been understanding of the family’s financial limits since getting sick. Christmas will be slim this year, she said, but she and her children will be celebrating the fact that they’re all able to spend the holiday together. They understand the focus right now is on keeping their home and making sure they can eat.

She also said she has a new outlook on things. Although Webber plans to continue a healthy lifestyle, she will allow herself to enjoy treats now and then once the family has their feet back under them financially.

“I did everything right as far as being healthy and I still got very, very sick,” she said. “I have family who are not healthy and they got infected and didn’t have it nearly as bad as I did. So I’ll be enjoying a drink from Starbucks sometimes, enjoying a burger every once in a while.”

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