It's only a dozen or steps, but it might as well be a mountain for a single mom on the Treasure Coast, who's been unable to climb the stairs to her home for days.
It’s a big day for Meaghan Wells' daughter Serenity who turned 8 Tuesday.
“I’m going to Golden Corral," said Serenity as she admired a birthday card.
Serenity opens a few gifts, but the best gift she could ask for she won't get this day. That's to go back to her apartment.
The Fort Pierce apartment Serenity shares with her sister and mother was condemned last month.
“I think it was 10:30 at night, I was watching tv and I heard a big bang outside. then I heard a knock at my door and it was my neighbor telling me the stair fell," said Meaghan Wells, Serenity's mom.
After a few days in a hotel, the complex planned to put Wells and her daughters in a vacant apartment. But Wells says the apartment was infested with bugs and refused to move in.
Someone in the office at the Sands of St. Lucie complex told Newschannel 5 they had gotten an apartment ready for Wells, and have now fixed the staircase. The complex is waiting on the City of Fort Pierce to send their inspector over. For Wells, that day can’t come soon enough.
“So the money I have spent on keeping them (daughters) entertained and the food to feed them, my back account is going lower and lower," said Wells.
Both sides disagree how long Wells has been out of her home. She says it’ll be two weeks Wednesday, the woman in the leasing office says just a week. Fortunately, Wells and her girls have a place to stay in the interim.
