Darnee Thompson and her boyfriend Torrance Colbert, Jr., have been together for two and a half years. Until recently, they had lived with their respective parents. Now they are happy to be living together with their son Torrance Colbert III, who was born in August 2015. A year before, the outcome was not joyous.
Darnee met Michelle, her NFP nurse, in August 2014 when she found out she was pregnant. Sadly, Darnee had a miscarriage. Michelle visited with Darnee to talk about grieving, tips on coping with grief and shared resources that Darnee used to get counseling.
A year later when Darnee became pregnant again, she reached out to Michelle and started the NFP program anew. This pregnancy was considered high risk — she had gestational diabetes and also needed to have a procedure to help her carry this baby to full term.
Michelle helped Darnee understand her medical situation, and Darnee’s mom and boyfriend also have participated in Michelle’s visits.
“My mom says lots of stuff has changed since she had babies,” Darnee said. “She likes to listen to our visits and talk to Michelle about the latest updates.”
When Darnee decided that she wanted to breastfeed, she and Michelle discussed Darnee’s questions and watched videos to prepare her.
“My nurse Michelle always answers my questions,” Darnee said. “I knew I wanted to breastfeed my son, but I also knew he would have to take a bottle (of breastmilk) when I returned to work. Michelle and I talked about what I can do to be successful with both.”
Michelle also helped Darnee to meet her employment goals, which included using her previously acquired CNA. Michelle connected Darnee with Goodwill’s job readiness and placement program, TalentSource. With TalentSource’s support Darnee went from making $13 an hour in a temp-to-hire customer service position to $16 an hour home health aide with St. Vincent Health.
After their loss and other challenges to come together as a family, Darnee and Torrance Jr. are recently engaged to be married, enjoying their new home with their health baby boy, Torrance III. Darnee started at Ivy Tech in January 2016, and Torrance Jr. has started a new higher-wage job.
Goodwill, through the work of NFP and TalentSource, supported this family as they worked to be a family and improve their lives.
