Texas couple considers divorce to help pay for daughter's health care costs
SANGER, Texas -- A Texas couple is considering getting a divorce to help pay for their daughter's health care costs.
Jake and Maria Grey have been married for nine years, and their 6-year-old daughter Brighton has Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. It is a rare chromosomal disorder that requires full-time care.
Developmentally, Brighton is still a baby. She also has hearing and vision impairments, as well as seizures.
"You know when you have a newborn, everything gets really stressful," Maria told WFAA. "You really have to adapt to someone needing you 24-7, all the time. We've had a newborn for six and a half years."
The couple's family said they spend $15,000 a year on her medical expenses, and with Jake's $40,000 salary, they don't qualify for Medicaid. It has left the family financially fragile, and they're considering an extreme decision about their marriage to help with all the medical bills.
"It would just be to get a divorce," Maria said. "It would be to not be together to get our child what we need."
By divorcing, Maria would become a single, jobless mother of two and would qualify for Medicaid to help with their finances immediately.
"It's morally wrong, I feel like," Jake said. "And I think it's conflicting for me, too, because I feel like what's happening to us is morally wrong."
Still, the couple fears they have no choice.
"We promised to each other and to her that we'd do whatever we could do to make her life, however long she's going to be with us, as good as possible," Maria said.
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