Diane Flynn Roberts reached out last month to the community to help a local Hallsboro man near and dear to her heart who is battling Stage 4 terminal cancer.
Kurt Jon Sundstrom (Jon) purchased a home located at the 1918 house at 503 Clyde Collier Road twenty years ago. The house was purchased as is and cheaply so Sundstrom could relocate from Maryland to the Columbus County area. He and Roberts have renovated the home little by little over time. “He’s made a ton of improvements to the home over the years,” Roberts said.
Sundstorm worked for the postal service in Clarkton as a rural mail carrier until his diagnosis over a year ago. The 55-year-old has squamous cell carcinoma of the neck and throat. Roberts has continued working her full-time job with Lowes Home Improvement in Shallotte while taking care of Sundstorm. The couple have shuttled back and forth between chemo and radiation appointments, MRIs, and PET scans.
They desperately needed a handrail and a ramp built because Sundstorm wasn’t able to use the outside steps any longer with his rapid health decline. After her story was published, the Columbus Baptist Men’s Association of Hallsboro Baptist Church contacted Roberts to help.
The association showed up immediately to install a handrail and gave the couple a five to six week timeline on the ramp. The group builds a ramp every Monday for residents in need in Columbus County at absolutely no cost to the individual or their family.
Sundstrom and Roberts didn’t have to wait as long as anticipated. Lowes Home Improvement of Shallotte donated all the materials that the couple needed and the group showed up bright and early this past Monday morning to complete the project.
“Thank you so much for the help,” said a tearful Roberts. The ramp is a welcome to sight her and Sundstrom after the last few months of having to battle the disease. This small act of kindness crosses one more thing off the list of many needed for the home’s improvements.
There are still things in need of repair at the residence. The first priority is the outside of the home. The majority of the wooden siding has been sanded, primed, and painted, but is not fully completed. Sundstorm had to abandon this task after his diagnosis. If you would like to offer your services to the family, contact Diane Flynn Roberts via Facebook, or or send her a text by phone at 910.233.7484.
