Retired Marine gets help restarting his life

Charles Baker did everything right in life, but he fell through the cracks. A retired Marine, he grew up in downtown Las Vegas and said he knew an education was his ticket out of the circumstances he saw.

"I come from a poor family, a bad part of town," he said. "We'd put our mattresses on the floor to sleep on them because of the shootings that happened all the time."

Baker graduated from Rancho High School in 1986. He went on to get a criminal justice degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a minor in communications. He joined the Marines and learned to be a demolitions expert, traveling to hot spots all over the globe.

Discharged in 1991 as a lance corporal, he found work in social services. But six years later, he was hit with neurosarcoidosis, a chronic disease that causes grand mal seizures. It has no known cure. Spontaneous remission has been observed, but long-term therapy often is required. Immunosuppression is the principal method of controlling it.

Dealing with the disease in the years since he was diagnosed has left Baker blind in his left eye, and he's had three strokes and one heart attack.

"I spend more time in the hospital than I do at home," he said. "I wake up every single day with a migraine. On a scale of one to 10, it's about a five, and it goes up to an eight by midday."

He takes 58 pills a day, including morphine.

Because he is on public assistance, Baker supplements his income by working from home as a tax professional with the IRS for part of the year.

In late 2015, he was evicted from his home for nonpayment of rent because he said the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority didn't process his renewal papers in time.

"The public housing authority didn't do its job," he said, adding that all of his possessions, which were still inside the house, were tossed out. "I lost everything."

He was on the street for 67 days — sleeping in his vehicle — while he tried to resolve the issue. Baker recalled the first night, when he parked in a back corner of the Plaza, trying to be inconspicuous. He slept in fits and starts, switching on the heater when he couldn't take the cold anymore.

"I really didn't sleep," he said. "I was so afraid someone would come over and tell me to move on or that someone would break the window and attack me. ... I'm in no shape to fight off anyone."

Just before Christmas, he was listening to "Candy & Zenja in the Morning" on Old School 105.7-FM on his car radio and called in to enter a contest. He won. The show asked him where to send his prize and learned he was a homeless veteran. It was the start to reversing the crack into which Baker had fallen.

Ward 5 Las Vegas City Councilman Ricki Y. Barlow was made aware of Baker's situation, and soon a home was found for him and his two teenage sons, who'd stayed with relatives during his homelessness.

Another to provide help was Kindred Healthcare. Social worker Robyn McGough heard the exchange on the radio and decided Baker — she didn't know his name at the time — would be a prime candidate for Kindred to adopt for Christmas. She ran it past her team members, and all of them were on board. They collected gift cards, personal items and provided a box of clothing. She and Baker communicated, and he sent her a "friend" request via Facebook.

Because of her job, said McGough, she's very careful about who she agrees to "friend" online, so she didn't respond.

"My spirit woke me up in the middle of the night, and said, 'You need to 'friend' that guy,' " she said. "So I did."

In communicating with him further, they realized they'd both attended True Love Missionary Baptist Church, 1941 N. H St., and had known each other since childhood but hadn't seen each other in 10 years.

Baker said Barlow was able to help him sort out his paperwork with the housing authority, and he was able to get a home in Desert Shores. McGough delivered the collected items Dec. 21, and the two friends reunited as a Walker Furniture truck arrived with furniture for Baker — a sofa, a love seat, tables and lamps, a dining room set and bedroom sets.

Walker was in the midst of its annual Home for the Holidays furniture giveaway, and even though all 20 recipient households for 2015 had already been chosen, the company agreed to give him some new furnishings as well.

"I know that I'm dying," Baker said. "I know that I may not make it. But if I can give back half of what I've received to society before I die, then I'm happy."

Baker can be reached via message through his Facebook page at tinyurl.com/gutnee7.

— To reach Summerlin Area View reporter Jan Hogan, email jhogan@viewnews.com or call 702-387-2949.