Nonprofits step up to help single parents serving in U.S. Military
Denver7 | by Maya Rodriguez | May 2022 | Link to Article
YORK, Pa. – For Cassidy Spinelli, photos help tell the story of her service.” Here’s my time being a plane captain,” she said while turning the pages of her photo album. “We would do detachments in Guam.”Twenty years in the U.S. Navy took the chief petty officer around the world, including Japan.”This is downtown Atsugi,” she said, pointing to one photo. It’s a time she wouldn’t trade for the world.”So rewarding,” Spinelli said. “Sacrificed a lot of years and just feels amazing.”Those years weren’t without struggle. While stationed in Japan, she gave birth to now 15-year-old Dante.” He came out with the umbilical cord, wrapped around his neck,” she said. Doctors diagnosed Dante with cerebral palsy. He needs a wheelchair and constant care. They transferred him to San Diego and Spinelli continued her service. However, when Dante was 11, she was deployed to the East Coast.” That was a year away from Dante,” she said. “A very long time.”She arranged for Dante’s care in a children’s hospital for the year she was gone. Yet, he was getting older and heavier. Spinelli knew she would eventually need to save enough money for a wheelchair-accessible vehicle. She tried to make the most of it.
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