A high school lacrosse team is raising funds for its captain’s family, which is facing foreclosure due to mounting medical expenses.
The Dinas have two days to pay $67,000 in mortgage back payments or lose their Alexandria home of 17 years.
"It's the American dream to be able to own your own home, but for us it turned into a nightmare," Sara Dina said.
Sara and John Dina are blind, and two of their four children have health problems.
John Dina was a New York Police Department sergeant until a debilitating car wreck in 1990. In addition to losing his vision, he has physical and cognitive impairments and can't read or write as a result. He suffered heart attacks in 1994 and 1999, and has also suffered a stroke and bleeding of the brain after a fall last year.
"He has become progressively more and more disabled over the years," Sara Dina said.
John Dina sees six specialists, and his wife stays home to take care of him full time. One of their daughters has type one diabetes and complications.
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Over the years, the family's mounting medical bills spiraled out of control.
"Everything snowballed and we found ourselves buried," Sara Dina said.
Daughter Catherine Dina captains the Edison High School girls lacrosse team, and her teammates are holding car washes and bake sales and seeking other donations to help the Dinas keep their home.
"As a gift for me, they bought me my prom dress, so that really means a lot," Catherine said.
"You want to do everything you can do to help her, but you can't," Kristen Samuelson said. "As a teenager, you don't have the money to give. You just try to be there for her."
Friends set up a YouCaring.com site to raise money. As of Tuesday morning, people have given more than $57,000.
"I'm totally awed," Sara Dina said. "I never would've dreamed it in a thousand years."
If they stop the foreclosure, the Dinas still plan to sell their home and move to a place they can afford.
