Today Monday, January 30, 2012, at 3:00 PM… a terrible, tragic and yet easily avoidable event is scheduled to occur… and MUST BE STOPPED.

 OneWest Bank is scheduled to conduct a foreclosure auction of Lisa Ferrecchia’s home in Milford, Massachusetts, a home worth roughly $209,800 today, although the balance of Lisa’s loan is about twice that amount… $396,046, as of January 3rd of this year.

 The day on which IndyMac Bank originated Lisa’s mortgage was arguably the worst date in history to get a mortgage, July 24, 2007, but she wouldn’t have had any way of knowing that at the time. The loan’s interest rate, fixed for 30 years, is 7.625 percent.

In the early part of 2010, Lisa’s income went down, just as happened to countless others, but it’s the reason Lisa’s income went down that’s not so common… it went down because someone said that her job was paying her too much money… she was earning $35,000 a year and that was apparently too much money and lost her disability income.

Lisa’s income went down because she lost the disability income that I would imagine she had always received as an adult. You see, Lisa Ferrecchia is a victim of what is often called: “One of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times.”

Lisa Ferrecchia is one of the thalidomide babies (what is that you ask?)

German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal launched the drug in October of 1957, claiming that it was an effective tranquilizer and painkiller, and proclaiming it a “wonder drug” for insomnia, coughs, colds and headaches. It was also found to be an effective antiemetic with an inhibitory effect on morning sickness, so thousands of pregnant women took the drug to relieve their symptoms.

Scientists at that time did not believe that any drug taken by a pregnant woman would be able to pass across the placental barrier and harm the developing fetus. And as it turned out, they were so very wrong.

Here in the U.S. the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) never licensed thalidomide for general use, however, samples were distributed to a numerous physicians as part of a clinical trial, in which 20,000 patients in the U.S. received thalidomide. It’s impossible to know how many pregnant women actually took the drug to help alleviate morning sickness or as a sedative,

Thalidomide was withdrawn from the market in 1961 after the drug was shown to cause birth defects. Roughly 10,000 babies had been born with disabilities such as the characteristic stunted arms or legs, and some babies were born with no limbs at all.

Even today, it is not known exactly how many worldwide victims of the drug there have been, although estimates range from 10,000 to 20,000… and Lisa Ferrecchia is one of them… basically, she was born with her hands on her shoulders… they’re often called “flipper limbs.”

Lisa Ferrecchia may have been born a thalidomide baby, but she’s not “disabled,” as far as she’s concerned. She goes to work each day at a medical facility, where she works as a medical coordinator of care. She bends over in order to write and her handwriting is beautiful. I’m told that she has learned to apply her make up beautifully, as well. So, in some sort of cruel joke, her income went down when her income went up, and now it was difficult to keep up with her $320,000 mortgage.

Stay with me, because here’s where her turning point occurs. Here’s that moment in time when had she not chosen the path she did, everything could be different today and she would not be worrying about where she will go once her home is sold on Monday…

SHE LISTENED TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CALLED ONEWEST BANK FOR HELP.

Lisa explained her situation to the OneWest representative… and can you guess what that person told her? I know you can…

The OneWest representative said: “I’m sorry, I can’t even talk to you about this unless you’re 90-days delinquent.”

Ding, ding, ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Over a year later, still being tortured by today’s version of thalidomide, Lisa decided she needed help and turned to a law firm who thought to themselves… “We have got to be able to get this done. This is crazy.”

They have submitted Lisa’s paperwork on ten separate occasions, although she admits that number could be nine. Each time, apparently, the bank takes at least 45 days to review the documents and by then they need new ones once again.

They tell me that she’s been turned down for not enough income, too much income, and the latest excuse du jour… her investor doesn’t participate… whatever the heck that means.

I spoke with someone from that firm and she says they have submitted Lisa’s paperwork on ten separate occasions, although she admits that number could be nine. Each time, apparently, the bank takes at least 45 days to review the documents and by then they need new ones once again.

So fix it and do it fast, because the sale is Monday January 30th at 3:00 PM. And just so you know, the house is not going to sell tomorrow no matter what, because we’ve already got foreclosure defense attorney Glenn Russell ready with a bankruptcy filing to stop it if that’s what we need to do. (You’ve heard of Glenn, right, he was one of the lead attorneys from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court “Ibanez” decision.)

BUT LISA SHOULD NOT HAVE TO FILE BANKRUPTCY,

One West Bank is the reincarnation of failed IndyMac Bank, brought back from the dead by a list of multi-billionaires, with the support of the FDIC. The list of multi-billionaires involved includes: J. Christopher Flowers – who comes from Goldman Sachs… John Paulson – who runs a hedge fund that did quite well shorting the meltdown along with Goldman Sachs… George Soros – who should need no further introduction, and Michael Dell, of “Dude, I’m getting a Dell” Computer. Look, I’m not saying that Michael Dell or George Soros knows anything about this prior to my writing about it today, but they do now.

So… Dear OneWest Bank…

Lisa Ferrechia should not be in the position she is in today, two years behind on her mortgage and facing the loss of her home today at 3:00 PM… and she wouldn’t be except for you, and a crisis created by Wall Street’s investment bankers. This is NOT her fault… she has done nothing wrong except to listen to your bank and her government.

If you hadn’t told her to stop making her mortgage payments in order to get her loan modified, I don’t know what would have happened, but I do know she would have done something else… and because Lisa is a person infinitely better than me at overcoming life’s obstacles, I fully believe she would have overcome this one… were it not for OneWest Bank.

Do you, OneWest Bank really want to be the thing that beat her?

It is inconceivable that any of the “Richest Americans” that are OneWest Bank’s owners, would want the bank’s management to do anything but STOP THIS SALE and do everything possible and then some, to keep Lisa in her home.

I was told that she has been waiting for a miracle… waiting to see if there was anything left on which she could pin her hopes on, obviously preparing for the worst, she replies: “Miracles like that just don’t happen for people like me.”

I wish more than anything that I could turn back the clock for Lisa Ferrechia and all of the other thalidomide babies… all the way back to the years 1957 – 1961. I wish I could go back and stop what is referred to as, ”One of the biggest medical tragedies of modern times” from ever happening…. I know I can’t, of course… but I want more than anything to be the miracle she needs.

I wish that I could stop her home from being taken away from her… but I can’t DO that either. All I can DO is write about this tragic situation in an effort to stop it from worsening. I just don’t know what else I can possibly DO…

BUT LUCKILY CHANGE.ORG DOES… AM I RIGHT?

You know exactly what to DO in an effort to stop Lisa’s home from being sold out from under her… I know you DO. And time is really of the essence here, so let’s DO this in a BIG way for Lisa… Please sign this petitiion and let them know we wont stand for this anymore..

Let’s DO together what I couldn’t possibly DO alone… Let’s be her miracle.