'She's My Hero': OFHS Senior Fights For Normalcy During Mom's Illness

OAK FOREST, IL — Lea Davia clicked over to the other line Friday afternoon. She knew it was the hospital calling, she needed to take it, but would call right back.

Seconds later, the phone rang: the relief on the other end, almost palpable.

"Good news!" she exclaimed.

The call was from staff at University of Chicago Medical Center. Her mother—who had been hospitalized there since Oct. 11, would be moved to a rehabiltation facility.

"Everything good has just hit me so quickly," Davia said. "I was in the dark for so long, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel."

It's been a long few months for Oak Forest High School senior Davia and her mom Lisa, a single mother-daughter duo who've forged a tight bond. The two have been apart for months, since Lisa was hospitalized following health struggles starting in September, when she just wasn't feeling quite right. The day of Davia's senior homecoming dance—Sept. 24—she laid down to rest, nudging Davia to still go on with her fun—get her hair done, put on her dress, and go to the dance. When Davia came back from her appointment, she found her mother unresponsive and called paramedics. Lisa was taken to Ingalls Hospital, where she remained for the week leading up to Davia's 18th birthday.

Even as she was hospitalized, Lisa made sure her daughter's birthday was special, asking a nurse to ensure an Edible Arrangement made it to Davia. It was the kind of selflessness Davia has grown up seeing from her mother, and what has inspired her to push herself hard to stay afloat as her mother was hospitalized.

Her mother was not home long before again falling unconscious. Doctors gave Davia few answers, she said, at one point saying her mother had suffered a UTI that had turned her septic, leading to a chain reaction of seizures, breathing problems, and an altered mental state. Given a tracheostomy, even her speech suffered, with communication between the two strained and limited to handwritten messages or reading lips. At Ingalls, Lisa suffered a seizure that eventually required her transport to University of Chicago Medical Center.

That was Oct. 11—and she's been there since, Davia said.

In the months since, the Midlothian teen and St. Damian graduate has kept up with her schoolwork, also taking on a job as a server at Rock Bottom Brewery in Orland Park to keep her family's household running smoothly—what some might say is a tall ask for a teen in a single-parent home. But her mother set a strong example of independence, Davia said, so she was following her lead.

"I’ve been trying to just tough it out on my own," Davia said. "She raised me to be very independent, very strong. I’ve been trying to just push through on my own."

Finally, she said, after months of trying to do it all, she turned to her community for help. Davia started a GoFundMe to assist her with paying bills, covering her mother's medical expenses, and maintaining her household. The money raised will also go toward covering the cost of her mother's stay in a rehabilitation facility, as well.

"I’m very headstrong, but I just hit a wall, where I can’t do it all anymore," she said. "I’ve just been chugging along, but it got to the point where bills were going overdue. I just was at the point where I needed the help.

"I really needed to swallow my pride. I don’t like showing that I’m vulnerable. I’m just amazed at how the community came together to help me."

Her mother's work ethic is remarkable she said. Lisa was as an X-ray tech for years, working to pay for Davia's Catholic school education.

"She’s always been there for me," Davia said, "She’s put herself through so much, working so many hours.

"She is the most hardworking woman I’ve ever known. I aspire to have a work ethic like hers."

Quickly the online fundraiser has swelled, growing to more than $9,000 of her $25,000 goal. Community members shared the campaign on social media, rallying around the beloved duo. The support and love for her mother doesn't surprise her, but she's modest about the same shown for her.

"She’s so amazing, she does it all with a smile on her face," Davia said, of her mother's devotion to their happiness. "That’s my mom, and when I said that was my hero, that wasn’t just to say that—she really is. She’s shown me what a good person really is."

Davia has been mindful of keeping their home in top shape, also caring for their four cats. She's had some help from her mother's close friends, whom she calls "aunts." Support from friends and her community have helped to anchor her.

"There've always been good people in my corner," Davia told Patch.

An accomplished high school wrestler, Davia this year had to sit the season out due to time constraints. She will also likely take a gap semester before college, to "work and clear my head." She hopes to pursue a career as an x-ray tech, an example set by her grandmother. Her mother is also in the health field, as a registered nurse.

"Those are the two women who raised me," she said, "and I aspire to follow in their footsteps."

Though not quite the same as her mother coming home, Davia was ecstatic to hear of her move to a rehabilitation facility.

"She's not ready to be anywhere else," she said. "This is the next step.

"I’m so happy. Things are really starting to look up."

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