Supporters help Pine Beach family’s survival struggle

Unfathomable setbacks that have befallen a young Pine Beach - including the mother's sudden descent into illness and death - family inspire a massive effort to help the surviving father and sons rebound.

According to the Riverside Signal,Rick and Ellen Osborn and sons Carter and Charlie constituted the prototype for a family unit. He operated a shop. She taught in the Millstone school district. Both had time to raise their elementary-school-age sons.

Things began to change when Rick's kidneys began to fail. That was followed by five years of daily dialysis. Ellen donated a kidney to a program that found a compatible donor. Choppy seas began to calm as his health returned.

But strifed reared its ugly head again in April of this year, when a brain aneurysm threw Rick's life - and theirs - into a new holding pattern. Ellen and the kids braved it at home alone while Rick endured the lonely anguish of regaining simple motor skills during five months of rehabilitation.

Just as light returned at the end of the tunnel, Ellen was diagnosed only two weeks ago with a sizeable brain tumor. She took a turn for the worse during the five-hour surgery to remove it, ending up on life support. Rick reached the agonizing decision to take her off mechanical help today.

Family members and friends have undertaken a two-pronged effort to support Rick, Carter and Charlie: a GoFundMe drive to help finance Rick's continued recovery, and a meal train drive to keep them fed. Among the items they hope to finance with the proceeds is a wheelchair-accessible van.

If you're interested in learning how to help, enter the links or contact danawuss@gmail.com.