Mandi Shaw, Utah Woman With Multiple Disabilities, Asks YouTube To Help Save Her Home (VIDEO)

Mandi Shaw was dealt a seemingly insurmountable hand.

The 47-year-old Utah woman's heart is at only 20 percent of normal capacity, and the results of her birth defects include clubbed feet, no fingers on her right hand and teeth so soft they fell out, according to Deseret News.

Her disabilities are making it impossible for her to work and nearly impossible to pay her mortgage, according to the news site. Now, Shaw is turning to YouTube for help in keeping their home.

To anyone willing to help, Shaw says in the video: "I would be forever grateful and indebted."

She's had trouble paying her bills ever since she had to refinance her home after her husband died from cancer last year.

"Well, I was born with physical problems so that limited...what I could do anyway, but I pretty much got along fine until the heart situation," Shaw says in her YouTube video.

She explains that without family to fall back on, she and her 19-year-old daughter, Cortney, may soon be forced to live in their Chevy pickup truck, the news site reports.

Ron Baker, a local resident who's volunteered to help the Shaws, has set up a way for others to take action. To help Mandi and Cortney keep their home, contact Ron at [e-mail] or call 801-553-9797.

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Comments

[Scholastica8]

11:33 AM on 01/02/2012

I can tell you what a lot of people are thinking, but may not have the guts to post:

What's a woman like this doing with a house anyway? She and her husband never should have bought a house if he was going to die and not pay for it. Her daughter's old enough to get a job. Why isn't she supporting her mother?

That's the "self-reponsibility, you're-on-your-own" mentality that the Far Right so cherishes. Like the 103-year-old woman down South and the family whose friends raised enough money to pay the mother's medical bills for fatal cancer.... they will see this You Tube and truly believe that's the way society should operate. That in times of dire need.... people who are victims of illness, bad luck, the handicapped, etc..... who, of course, must have made bad decisions (the eternal scapegoat phrase), as we all have done..... should become You Tube beggars.

My New Year's wish is that everyone who has had this thought.... who believe that You Tube Beggary is how the US should operate, should have to go on You Tube themselves and beg for help... that they should have to go to a food bank, truly hungry, and see nothing but empty shelves.

[mrsjpd]

12:17 PM on 01/02/2012

I can't believe what I'm reading. Why should this woman have a house ...are you serious ???? I guess the family sat down and decided that after they bought a house ,the husband should get cancer and die. To your way of thinking, since I " decided " to get cancer , I should not be living in a house we are buying. I'll inform my husband, we should immediately sell our home. You should go on You Tube and apologize to those truly struggling ,with no answers in sight .God forbid , you will never find youself in that position , because if your friends feel the same way, you will find yourself up that well known creek without a paddle.

[Scholastica8]

12:52 PM on 01/02/2012

Read beyond the 2nd paragraph before you jump to conclusions.

[The ninty ninty percent]

12:41 PM on 01/02/2012

Did you even read or listen to the story? Have you read the comments? If you have you would know what people are thinking. That woman bought the home with her husband 19 years ago like any other Amercian family would do. Her husband die a year ago, now who would have known that she would lose her husband 18 year from when they bought their home. As far as her daughter she is working and is trying to support her mother and their home. And all they are trying to do is save their home. It is hard for many families out there to hold on to their homes let alone a woman with disabilities who has lost her husband. No bad decisions here just real life happening all over. Read and listen to the story again. God Bless you.

[Scholastica8]

12:49 PM on 01/02/2012

If you had bothered to read past my 2nd paragraph before jumping to a conclusion, you'd have understood that I was not speaking for myself.

I was actually saying the same thing you are. Countless people on the Right will not bother to read, to listen, but will make the statements I made.

And... you just proved yourself to be not all that different from them.

[kindirbuds]

10:44 AM on 01/02/2012

I sent some money (paypal) what about you?

[The ninty ninty percent]

11:36 AM on 01/02/2012

I just want to say Thank you for your compassion. I would send if I could.

[cvermeulen9]

10:36 AM on 01/02/2012

Obama should send some of that 4 million dollar tax payer vacation money to help save this poor women. Instead of going to his home state and basking in the sun while a majority of people are struggling to stay warm and to keep a roof over thier heads. 4 million would help a lot of people like her and possibly mean the difference between life and death for some. Just think who we could have helped!!

[The ninty ninty percent]

11:45 AM on 01/02/2012

Now why would Obama or anyone in goverment want to give up our tax dollars to help others in need? And your right that 4 million could have helped alot of people. I guess Obama and his family were in need of a vacation!

[cvermeulen9]

12:15 PM on 01/02/2012

Again!

[The ninty ninty percent]

09:39 AM on 01/02/2012

As someone on the verge of losing our home of 23 years, I'm praying that someone out there has the means and the compassion to help her. I know the feeling. I know I would if I could.

[adika3z]

09:05 AM on 01/02/2012

what city Mandi Shaw live in, Woman With Multiple Disabilities.
how come mormon church did not help her.
in salt lake city area, some mormons people are rich family.
how come rich mormons people are not helping to mandi shaw.
what about salt lake city government help mandi shaw or not.

[ScottyboyLA]

12:05 AM on 01/02/2012

I hope to God she gets the financial help she needs. What a tragedy. And we think we (or I) have problems. As stated in previous comments, I would like HP to keep us informed of hopefully a favorable outcome for a most deserving woman and her daughter.

[LesKern]

09:12 PM on 01/01/2012

Ron Paul sends his condolences.

[iburl]

09:31 PM on 01/01/2012

but not thru the mail, that's sochalizm.

[relentless63]

11:41 AM on 01/01/2012

This is the Republican designed landscape. We can afford to go to war, in response to imagined weapons and not pay for any of it, but can’t protect the disabled and desperate amongst us. We’re in need of an infusion of good old American faith, justice and compassion. What a disgusting state of affairs. So many suffering that we don't know about and they have no face for Republicans. Corporations are people and people are pawns.

[cvermeulen9]

10:37 AM on 01/02/2012

Call O and tell him we want some of that 4 million dollar tax payer vacation money and have him send it to this women and people like her.

[relentless63]

11:15 AM on 01/02/2012

Right! Unlike Bush, President Obama doesn't deserve security for his family or a vacation away from the WH? Don't touch the military waste or tax breaks for the rich. Take away this president's vacations!

[tabaqui]

06:37 PM on 12/31/2011

What a sad state we are in that a person has to beg for help to keep their home. Please, HP - keep us updated as to what happens to this woman.

[pennywhite]

06:26 PM on 12/31/2011

My daughter and I are currently staying with family due to the loss of our housing. I am blessed to have family to stay with, and to be free (for now) of any health problems.
I am sending five dollars. It isn't much, but if enough people send a little bit, Mandi will remain safe and in her home.

[averagezoe]

06:16 PM on 12/31/2011

I'll help with what I can. But it is a dirty rotten shame that such things happen in a country that proclaims to be No. 1 and she is most likely only one in a million who are this bad off.

[bluegnu63]

03:20 PM on 12/31/2011

I can only send prayers right now, but at least it's something else that helps us all.

[RoughCollie]

02:09 PM on 12/31/2011

This woman's story is touching; I am impressed by the humility and courageousness it takes to reach out and ask strangers for help but what impresses and touches me even more is the incredible kindness and generosity from those who have posted below.

So many readers struggle every day just to buy groceries or make a mortgage payment yet here they are, anonymously grand and gracious with an empathic spirit that recognizes when one "us" has it worse which is why I too will look up my paypal password.

I woke up feeling a bit blue. Between the rainy weather, the crummy news, the selfish and pervasive GOP philosophies plus concerns that our country's values are declining as well as the worry that my daughter will never be able to afford a home, something I took for granted. Then I began reading the comments and tears filled my eyes.

I am so darn lucky to live in this country surrounded by such wonderful people...that was just the kick in the a$$ I needed to get off the pity potty and do something positive.

I hope HuffPo keeps us informed of the progress.

[zapata86301]

01:59 PM on 12/31/2011

Just sent a little something via Paypal. Doesn't matter how I feel about it - it's not for me, it's for her.

[varobj]

04:36 PM on 12/31/2011

I did as well, cheers to you.

[zapata86301]

06:45 PM on 12/31/2011

Cheers back

[Brigette]

03:05 AM on 01/02/2012

Bless you.

[Don Quixote]

01:45 PM on 12/31/2011

This is the conservative utopia, in which you have to beg for help and hope and pray you get enough publicity if you get sick. Imagine all the people who are similar circumstances but not fortunate or capable enough to post on youtube and make it onto HP's radar.

I intend to help her but please, people, we are the wealthiest nation in the world's history. Some things transcend left vs. right binaries. The human body is a sacred thing; its care should never have been given over to soul-less profit machines. It seems we can all agree that we can do better than this.

[zapata86301]

02:01 PM on 12/31/2011

Could not agree more. F&F.

[pennywhite]

06:26 PM on 12/31/2011

Thank You.