Wave of Setbacks Continues as Cancer Victim Is Evicted
Mia Finn awoke to a ringing telephone Thursday morning, still feeling weak and sick from chemotherapy a day earlier. It was her attorney with bad news: Her eviction from a San Juan Capistrano apartment could not be forestalled. She would have to be out by early next week.
Now in the final weeks of her six-month chemotherapy treatment for stage 3 breast cancer, the once-energetic flight attendant who gave horse riding lessons in her spare time now says it’s more and more difficult to get up in the morning.
“I no sooner get out of bed and I want to go right back into bed,” said Finn, 51, who, friends say, resembled actress Ann-Margret before chemotherapy and steroids made her bloated and hairless. “I’m tired all the time. I’m down to doing one thing a day--blanketing and unblanketing my bed.”
Despite her attorney’s efforts and a letter from Finn’s doctor saying a move could be a serious health risk, Finn said, the landlord has not been persuaded to extend a 30-day notice to vacate the apartment.
Finn’s landlord, Ivy Damon, declined to comment and referred questions to her attorney, who did not return several telephone calls Friday.
“I just can’t understand how someone can be so uncompassionate,” Finn said, holding back tears. “I’ve been here six years. I’ve paid my rent on time every month. I’ve helped out when they needed it. I’ve tried to be the perfect tenant.”
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Finn said she received the eviction notice Feb. 19, taped to her door upon her return from a chemotherapy session. It told her simply that she had 30 days to vacate the apartment, giving no reason.
Finn said her landlord had told her a few months ago that she wanted to remodel her second-story unit this spring. She said Damon offered to “work around” her, allowing her to stay in the apartment while the work--first on one bedroom and a kitchen, then on the other bedroom--was being done, but Finn was reluctant to agree.
After Damon began bringing contractors into the apartment for work estimates, Finn said a friend put her in contact with San Diego attorney Janet Sobel, who wrote a letter on Finn’s behalf, saying the remodeling work would create a stressful and unhealthy environment for Finn and asking for a delay until medical treatments were finished later this year. Eleven days later, Finn got the eviction notice. Sobel sent another letter, accusing the landlord of retaliation.
In a March 13 letter, Damon’s attorney, Carlos Negrete, responded, denying that the eviction notice was retaliatory and rebutting the tenant’s claims.
The law allows landlords to issue eviction notices without a stated reason if the tenant has a month-to-month rental agreement, said Crystal Sims, director of litigation for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County. But the landlord may not issue that notice as retaliation for a tenant’s complaint about living conditions or discrimination, Sims said.
“Discrimination could be ethnic background, sexual orientation or a physical or mental disability,” Sims said. “But it’s up to the tenant to prove that the landlord gave the 30-day notice for improper or illegal reason.”
The last eight months have been tough, Finn said. In July, her mother, Mildred Finn, was diagnosed with breast cancer. Finn’s own diagnosis came a few weeks later. Her mother underwent a double mastectomy in August. Finn underwent hers in September.
If it weren’t for the generosity of friends, Finn said, she doesn’t know how she would have been able to make ends meet. Through a company program called Wings, a group of fellow flight attendants have donated their vacation time to Finn and taken over her flight schedules so she can continue collecting a paycheck and keep the job she’s had for 26 years. An airline policy prohibits Finn from naming her employer.
The co-workers have also stayed in close contact with Finn since her surgery. Some drive her to doctor appointments. Others bring her food. One has paid the attorney’s bill.
They say they would do anything for their friend with the good heart, infectious laugh and personality that can light up a room.
“We all try to be as helpful as we can, but at the end of the day, she’s there alone sorting out these problems,” said Jane Dineen, a longtime friend of Finn’s who organized the Wings assistance. “And why this [eviction] even needs to be a problem is beyond me.”
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Several of Finn’s friends spent Friday packing her belongings. Her mother says she can’t help but worry.
“It’s all taking its toll, and I hate for Mia to have to deal with all this while she’s going through the worst of chemotherapy,” said Mildred Finn, who stays overnight with her daughter in the two-bedroom apartment on chemotherapy days. “We don’t want to stay here if they don’t want us, but just give us the time to get Mia out.”
While Mildred Finn has received a clean bill of health since her surgery, she has her hands full taking care of Finn’s father, who is frail from osteoporosis and requires daily care. The couple, in their mid-70s, lost their home in the 1993 Laguna Canyon fire and have been renting ever since.
“Mia could move in with us, but it would be difficult,” Mildred Finn said.
While Finn directed the packing on Friday, her friends reassured her.
“I told her she can get through this,” friend Judy Alexander said.
Alexander also told Finn’s mother they could make the move by Tuesday’s deadline, six days after her lawyer called with the bad news.
“God made the world in six days,” Alexander told Mildred Finn. “We can move Mia in six days. And then we’ll rest on the seventh.”
