Family moves out of tent

BUTTE — Dana DeGraw spent part of Tuesday night fiddling with the water faucets in her family’s new apartment and taking a warm bath.

“I was up most of the night, turning the water off and on and overjoying in that, and doing a little laundry,” she said. “I’m so blessed. I’m just so blessed to be a part of this community.”

Running water might not seem like a big deal, but for Dana DeGraw, and her children Joshua, 23, Katie, 17, and Kyle, 15, who lived with three dogs (Sorren, Loki, and Kratos) and one unnamed recuperating pigeon in a one-room 10-by-14-foot canvas tent from July 1 until Jan. 13, running water, laundry, and showers are the pinnacle of a luxury.

The four of them relocated to the Valley from Chitina after money issues and the increasing demands of Dana DeGraw’s health care pushed the family south. She’s been diagnosed with kidney cancer, Chiari malformation (a structural deficiency in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motion and balance), and most recently, a brain tumor and spinal cysts.

“My brain is basically falling out the back of my skull,” she said.

Nor is housing simply a matter of modern conveniences, according to Dana DeGraw. Doctors had intended to operate on her brain tumor immediately after the holidays, but that had been postponed until the family could guarantee a safe place for her recovery.

Dana had a job driving taxis at first.

However, some new medications have forced her to take a temporary furlough from that job.

“My job is still waiting for me,” she said. “They’re holding it for me until I get back.”

The inability to get out and look for regular work also means the DeGraws don’t qualify for certain programs that might have allowed them to take down the tent more permanently.

“There are organizations,” she said. “A lot of them are focused on family problems. There are also certain restrictions on these organizations. Not every day am I able to get out of bed.”

Some days, the pain is close to unbearable.

“I wake up and throw up for an hour, and then my head quits throbbing, and then I’m able to get dressed and go on with my day” she said.

“Just two years ago, I was running up and down mountains,” DeGraw added. “My life has completely changed.”

In the meantime, Josh DeGraw and Katie DeGraw have both obtained work, though they’re both looking for more regular jobs closer to the new apartment. For now, Josh plans to spend one week near his work and another week at the apartment.

The family has relocated within the Valley several times, frequently at the request of law enforcement officials, said Josh DeGraw. They’ve avoided other people since August found them camped near the scene of an alleged sexual assault in the Jim Creek area, family members said.

The DeGraws relocated to private property after their generator broke down, and has been paying only electric bills since then, Josh said. He was midway thorough the packing effort Wednesday, and took a break near a wood stove in the wall tent while he recounted the family’s story.

“It took anywhere from a full entire day — 24 hours — to move the whole entire tent and everything and get it set back up, and things back in order,” he remembered. “It took a day after that to get the inside set.”

After the family’s story made the rounds on social media and aired on local television, a local resident made a connection with a realtor, who set them up in a rental property, family members said.

“I’ve got a wood stove,” she said. “I’m doing a lot better than some of the other homeless people in the Valley.”

She’s also fortunate to have family, the mother of three said.

“We all do our part to maintain camp,” she said.

While the long-term residence in the tent was unplanned, and trying, Dana says the family is grateful both for what they have, as well as the help they’ve received from the local community.

“I can’t wait to pay it forward, I really can’t,” she said.

While their housing concerns have been addressed for the moment, the specter of future trials looms. For now, Josh, who spent Tuesday night — what he hopes will be the last night — sleeping in the tent, said he was excited by the prospect of a hot shower and clean laundry. But he grew more serious at one point, when talking about his mother’s condition.

“She’s in incredible pain,” he said.

A local resident has established a GoFundMe page on the family’s behalf at gofundme.com/jo4uqg. The page has raised a little more than half of a stated goal of $10,000.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.