MILAN, Illinois — A group of neighbors is counting on a Christmas miracle after two of them came down with serious cases of Coronavirus. Loved ones outside the hospital are using ornaments and the power of prayer in hopes of making their neighborhood whole once again.
Between runways and a city highway, this street on 69th Avenue, Old Airport Road, in Milan is home to about a dozen neighors.
"This whole neighborhood, good people," says Chris Forbes.
Vern Swords has lived on this street all his life. Then there's Nikki Atwell and Bret Harris; they moved in a few years back.
Don't forget Cindy and Brian Reuther, "This is our house. We've been here for almost 30 years."
And then there's Chris Forbes and her grandson Bently, just to name a few.
This street of individual dwellings isn't just a neighborhood, the neighbors here will tell you they're a family.
But right now this family is incomplete. The house on the end is ready for the holidays, but no one's home.
"This is my parents house, Rick and Denise Thompson," explains Todd Thompson.
Rick and Denise are both in the hospital with Covid-19. Cindy Reuther caught up with Rick on the phone.
"It feels like someone is standing on your chest, and you want them to get off, and they cant get off until you cough so bad you get a release," says Rick from the fourth floor at Unity Point Health Trinity in Rock Island.
Rick is on a breathing machine, and Denise is on a ventilator.
"So she's been under in a medically induced coma. I think this is the 8th day now," explains Todd Thompson.
Fighting Covid is only the latest struggle this couple has faced in the past few years. Denise has beaten uterine cancer. And a few years back, Rick got into two motorcycle accidents, neither was his fault, but both landed him in the hospital. And then that same year they had a fire that gutted their home. They stayed in a hotel for months.
"I'm overwhelmed, I'm sad, I miss my friends," says Cindy.
But now this family is channeling their hurt into hope into what they call a Tree of Hope in Rick and Denise's front yard.
"We want friends, neighbors people they work with, family, come put an ornament out here so they know were thinking about them. We want them to come home. We're praying for them, and we're going to keep the tree lit 'til they're both here," explains Chris.
Each ornament represents another well wish and a plea to the heavens. And the tree itself is proof that when times are dark, for this neighborhood turned family, there's still a glimmer of hope.
"Christmas is the time of miracles, and that’s what we're asking for. We're cashing in our wish, and our wish is for them to get well and come home. We'll be here for ya," says Chris.
The neighborhood invites everyone to come hang an ornament for Rick and Denise. You can do so at 5015 69th Avenue, Milan Illinois.