Cheryl Silverstein:  

I graduated from West Carrollton High School in December of 1976. I am second oldest of 6 in a WC family of 6 kids that included 3 brothers and 2 sisters in the Enscoe family.…Cathy, Gary, Steve, Robin and Jon all went to West Carrollton schools. After years of administrative and accounting jobs, in 1994 I attended the University of SC-Columbia, earning a BS in Office Information Systems. I worked in IT at a hospital until 1999 when I became permanently disabled after a severe lower back injury from a fall down a flight of stairs. You can search my name or “inamoodforamelody” on FB and YouTube to see what else I’ve done in my adult life, much of it described below. I was involved in many high school activities including a freshman 9th grade cheerleader and a flute/glockenspiel/chimes player in the concert and marching bands throughout high school. I played on the varsity basketball team and ran track in my sophomore and junior years. I actually graduated early after the first semester of my senior year when I had all the credits I needed to graduate so I did not play basketball or run track in my senior year, nor did I even bother with graduation ceremonies. I was ready for school to over with and I was already off working full time at Woody’s for my first jobs, first as a cashier and then a waitress in the restaurant. My Mom was an HR manager and so very soon I began working at Metropolitan Life Insurance (MLI) , sorting mail. My plans at that point were that I was going to follow in Cathy’s footsteps and enlist in the US Air Force. While working at MLI, first I was dating then living with a boyfriend that I had met while working at Woody’s and I ended up pregnant! I had already taken the USAF test but the pregnancy ended my enlistment plans. Rob was born in Jan 1977. My parents hated Danny and did everything they could to convince me not to stay in the relationship. I left Dayton shortly after Rob was born, when he was just 6 months old, to get away from an abusive and very fearful circumstance with his father. I moved to the DC area where my sister was stationed at the Pentagon with the USAF. Right away my sister set me up on a blind date with a young colleague of hers. We clicked right way and I married my first husband Bryan, in Feb 1978. We were married for 10 years and he adopted Rob. We also had a daughter, Lyndsay, in 1980, right after he left after 4 years in the USAF and we moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa so that he could pursue computer programming. For the next few years while he established a long term programming position, I worked various office positions where I learned many aspects of business accounting. Several years later we ended up in Omaha, NE where I worked for an advertising and art agency, for eight years, first as a receptionist and then in the accounting office. They paid for community college accounting classes and eventually I ended up running their entire office operations clear up to running the monthly financials. I was their office manager until the owner made a bad investment and went bankrupt in 1987. In 1988 I divorced Bryan due to irreconcilable differences. I became a single Mom to 2 kids with no career plan. Immediately after sticking around to liquidate the now bankrupt company and getting divorced in 1988, when I was 30, I enrolled in and attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE (majoring in Geology for 2 yrs). I had a short term boyfriend who was doing his residency in Lincoln, but as he began his doctorate career, he also developed some changes in his personality so I escaped from that relationship fairly quick. While attending UNL, I worked as an administrative secretary in Bessey Hall for the Dept of Geology while taking classes for two years. I then transferred to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, (changing my major to Office Information Systems for 2-1/2 yrs). Two and a half years later I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Office Information Systems in Dec 1994. While there and so that I could claim in-state tuition I worked for The Earth Sciences and Resources Institute (ESRI) on the campus of the USC, as a database manager. I remained single throughout my college academics and worked full time the entire 4-1/2 yrs while I was in college. After I graduated in December of 1994, I moved my kids back to Omaha where they wanted to go to high school and graduate with their friends that they had remained in contact with while in SC. I immediately found work at Methodist Hospital in Omaha as a Microsoft computer analyst and technician. I worked in the field supporting both office and computer hardware and Microsoft software at all hospital owned facilities in the Omaha metro area. I met Barry in Jan 1997 and we married on Halloween of the same year. I am approaching my 20th yr anniversary this year (Oct 2017). At 41 we decided that we wanted a child between us so along came my youngest, Hannah, who just turned 18 in Sept 1999. She was born with heart issues and I had severe lower back issues during the pregnancy. Before Hannah was even conceived I sustained a severe back injury after a serious fall down a flight of stairs while moving a treadmill that broke bones in my lower lumbar region. We didn’t realize how bad it was until I was 7 months pregnant and experiencing severe lower back pain that didn’t improve after she was born. I continued to work up until the day before her birth and had planned on returning after the maternity leave, however between my back injury and her open heart surgery in Dec 1999 at 3-1/2 months old, I was not able to return to my job and I have not worked since other than a few stints caring for children in a local gym. My actual diagnosis in Jan 2000 was spondylolisthesis, with degenerative disc disease and spinal stenosis. I have not been able to gather the courage to have a required lumbar fusion surgery to shore up the broken bones and the slippage has gone from a Grade I to a Grade III over time where there is a 50-75% misalignment now. In 2004 I filed for and won my social security disability case. Winning allowed me to not be forced into having surgery before I was ready. Here I am 15 yrs later and still haven’t had surgery…I have been managing the lower back pain with pain management doctors. But the instability is getting to the point where at any given point the L5/S1 slippage could slip the rest of the way and I would be paralyzed so surgery is eminent and I expect I am going to have to give in to the surgery before that happens. Thank goodness technology has improved the outcome of lumbar fusion surgery in the many years I have waited! In 2006 we moved to the Pheonix area to get away from cold weather and the possibility of me falling in the winter which could cause instant paralyzation. My older two kids had moved here before we got here. Lyndsay has two children, Owen and Hadley, 9 and 5 yrs old. Rob does not have children. My husband is retired from the USPS and is also a 100% disabled veteran. He was in the USAF in the late 70's for 4 years but when he went to re-enlist he was diagnosed with diabetes and not allowed to continue his military career. So he went to work for the post office and retired in 2004. Since we moved here he has struggled with his diabetic issues and now his kidneys failed him so he began dialysis late in 2014. He is also in congestive heart failure with inoperable blockages. He has bleeding retinas that need repaired frequently. And he has some of the worst neuropathy in his limbs that I have ever seen! But he is a warrior and keeps up the pace like no other! I have one main hobby during the spring and summer months that I love…I am an online storm streamer/chaser. I follow live streams all over the midwest of storm chasers chasing torn...Expand for more