FARMINGTON — The days since a fast moving fire on September 14 destroyed the 1840 home where Joy Warren, her daughter and a tenant were living on the Knowlton Corner Road have been rough.

Now living in an apartment in Farmington, Warren, at 74, continues to struggle with medical and financial issues trying to hang on to the 26-acre property, she said.

“I need an angel to help with taxes that are owed. I’ve struggled for 14-years to hang on to the property since my husband died,” she said.

Very few items were saved from the fire. Pictures of family and items inherited from her parents are gone and can’t be replaced. Some salvaged items were in storage and to “add insult to injury” someone recently broke-in and took some of what little was left, she said.

Taking life “one day at a time with the Lord’s help,” there have been blessings. Warren stayed with church friends for two weeks after the fire. Members of her church, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, have given her support, both emotional and financial.

“They gave me a house-warming shower and a lot of things I can use,” she said.

Local quilting groups have blessed her with quilts and Maine State Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington, made arrangements for her to receive a flag to replace the one that draped her husband’s coffin and burned that day in her kitchen. Marines from Augusta came up for a ceremony in Meetinghouse Park the day after Thanksgiving, she said.

She remains thankful for the 13 fire departments that contained the fire and the two motorcyclists who helped her out of the burning building.