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Former Buc furnishes home for cancer-stricken family
By JIM HARRINGTON
| Article published on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006 |
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![[Image]](/content_images/121406_cit-01.jpg) |
| Photo courtesy of WARRICK DUNN FOUNDATION |
| From left, Terry Davis, Jr., Stephanie Battle, Craesha Gordon, and Atlanta Falcons running back Warrick Dunn relax on the couch of the Battle family’s new home in Greenwood Park. NeighborWorks provided seed money to purchase the land for the subdivision, which is being developed by Clearwater Neighborhood Housing Services. The Warrick Dunn Foundation furnished the home for Battle, who, along with her daughter, Craesha, is fighting cancer. |
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CLEARWATER – A 34-year-old mother whose family has been ravaged by cancer got an early Christmas visit from Santa Claus, who was dressed up as football player Warrick Dunn.
Stephanie Battle, who lives in a home on Tangerine Street, was finishing the closing on her newly built home through the Clearwater Neighborhood Housing and the local branch of NeighborWorks, a nationwide nonprofit organization that helps residents find affordable housing.
When she arrived at her home the morning of Dec. 5 and opened the door, she was stunned to see the entire house had been furnished.
Everything had been donated with the help of the Warrick Dunn Foundation. That includes the hangers in the closets.
It wasn’t exactly a giveaway. Don’t think ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Battle holds the mortgage, which was processed with Sun Trust Bank. What with all Battle has been through, she had earned it, said Sun Trust’s Samuel Davis.
All Battle and her two children had to carry into the house were the clothes on their backs, said Isay Gulley, the head of Clearwater NHS.
Gulley enrolled Battle into NeighborWorks homebuyer education courses, but Gulley soon realized that the family needed more help.
Dunn, an Atlanta Falcons running back and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, had been in difficult circumstances as a child, Gulley said. Helping out Battle makes him feel whole, said Gulley. He’s motivated to give after struggling to get through in life, she said. Part of his gift included paying off some personal debt. All totaled, his foundation gave between $30,000 and $35,000.
Battle has been fighting cancer for years. According to the St. Petersburg Times, she lost her 15-year-old daughter to cancer in 2004, and very soon after, her sister died after fighting breast cancer.
She herself had a mastectomy, the result of her own struggles with breast cancer. Her 9-year-old daughter, Craesha Gordon, now has cancer.
All along, Davis said, she has maintained a job to help support herself and her family, including her 15-year-old son, Terry Davis Jr.(no relation to Samuel Davis).
“She’s a determined, young woman who wanted to do her best,” said Davis.
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Article published on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006
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