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I M P R O V E M E N T Kind hearts and a little elbow grease helped this family stay in their house B Y S AYA KA M AT S UOKA | PHOTO GR A PHY BY BRIAN A BROUGH
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wobbly toilet, sinking floors and mold spores were just a few of the problems that used to plague Jessica Barnes’ East Durham home. Jessica, a single mother with two kids, inherited the home – which her family had owned since 1965 – from her father in 2009 after he was diagnosed with cancer. Since then, she has battled a neverending cascade of problems, sinking more and more money into a seemingly hopeless house. The problems escalated and came to a head during one particularly brutal winter a few years ago. “It was dumb cold outside, and there was ice everywhere,” Jessica says. “The pipes burst in the kitchen, the heat went out, the hot water heater stopped working. It was the nightmare of a lifetime.” Frantic and desperate, Jessica did everything she could to keep herself and her son Jaden, 10,
Jessica holds her daughter, Janai. She says her favorite room in the house is her kids’ bedroom, because now they don’t all have to share the same room. 50
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durhammag.com
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april 2018