The Mitchells could be any happy family. Their Tooele home is filled with laughter, smiles and the sounds of three young children roughhousing. To look at them, you’d have little sense of the hardships they have endured over the past year.

But life has been hard for the Mitchells, and this year it became even more so. Mother Marsha, who grew up in Tooele, is deaf. Father Michael is severely hard of hearing. This year Michael fell into a coma and spent weeks in the hospital. Medical bills have left the family struggling financially. Christmas for the kids seemed like an impossibility.

But the Mitchells’ bleak holiday picture has changed. The family has been selected as the Tooele Transcript-Bulletin Christmas Benefit Fund family for 2008. With help from the Transcript-Bulletin and its readers, the Mitchells may yet have a merry Christmas.

The family includes parents Michael, 30, and Marsha, 32; daughter Aleisha, 7; and sons Isaac, 6, and Skyler, 3. They have lived in Tooele for four years. Michael is originally from Salt Lake. Marsha is from Duschene but grew up in Tooele and graduated from Tooele High School.

For about seven years, Michael worked two jobs — one at Wal-Mart and another at UPS in Salt Lake City. He would normally work 60 to 70 hours a week and sleep on Sundays, he said.

“I was working two jobs just to get through,” he said.

Michael quit Wal-Mart in hopes of working full-time with UPS, but then lost his UPS job in April. A week or two later, Michael’s daughter Aleisha found him not breathing and unresponsive at his home. He was transported to the University of Utah Hospital, where he remained in a light coma for two weeks. After he awoke, he spent another week or two in the hospital.

“I had just overworked myself,” Michael said. “My body just shut down, and I had severe dehydration.”

As a result of the medication he was on, Michael’s kidneys shut down, which put him on dialysis for another two months. While on dialysis, he had to drive to Salt Lake every other day, sitting for four hours at a time while the machine performed the function of his kidneys.

It was a terrifying experience that gave Michael new insight on his life.

“Throughout the summer I was focusing on my kids because of what they had to go through not having Daddy at home,” he said. “Just being back and knowing that I’m OK is a wonderful feeling to have. There was a thin line between me being alive or dead, and going to a couple funerals gave me a big reality check of what I could’ve lost. A lot of people say they got the old Mike back when I got out of the hospital. Before I was just quiet and tired.”

But Michael’s ordeal wasn’t the only health trouble the family has faced. Last year Marsha had to have her gallbladder and tonsils removed.

“She kept getting strep throat,” Michael said. “She’d get real sick and then I’d have to stay home and watch the kids. It was a struggle at the time.”

The medical bills have taken a toll, even though Michael had insurance.

“It took all of our savings and family members helped out, but I said, ‘no more.’ Let me do this,” Michael said.

In June, he got a job as a butcher at Maceys in Tooele.

“I only had a month to recover because I didn’t want to lose the house and cars and stuff like that,” he said.

Michael swears he’ll never work two jobs again.

“I missed out on a lot of stuff with my kids [when I was working two jobs],” he said. “The last seven months it’s been nice taking and picking them up from school. Before I had no time — just go to bed and work.”

Because Michael is hard of hearing and Marsha is deaf, the couple often have to rely on intuition to communicate with their children.

“It’s more of a sixth sense thing when you know something is wrong — you feel it instead of hearing it,” Michael said.

Sometimes communication with others can be difficult.

“We rely on our kids a lot and sometimes our kids don’t understand what we’re talking about,” he said. “For a long time Marsha and I wanted to get the Sidekick — a phone where you can e-mail back and forth.”

The family’s main Christmas wish is to be able to communicate better.

The Mitchells’ phone has been temporarily disconnected because they don’t have the money to pay the bill. Michael planned on getting a cell phone for texting, but didn’t have the money for it. A TTY/TDD phone — a device for text communication for the hearing impaired — would also be a terrific benefit to the family.

“A lot of times we have a hard time contacting other people,” Michael said.

Both Michael and Marsha could use new hearing aids. Michael’s has been broken for years, and Marsha only wears hers on important days because she doesn’t want to break it. Her device can let her know a sound is present, but cannot make speech understandable to her. Michael said both hearing aids are expensive to maintain and insurance doesn’t cover the cost.

“It’d be nice because a lot of people say, ‘I’m tired of you saying, ‘What?’” Michael said.

Marsha could also use some new glasses.

“She’s been wearing the same contacts for six months,” Michael said. “Our insurance doesn’t cover eyeglasses.”

She also needs to have her wisdom teeth removed.

“I thought I’d wait for my tax returns to take care of that, but there’s days when she’s in so much pain,” Michael said. “Our dental plan only covers $1,000 of the whole deal.”

Michael added that Marsha could use a digital camera with a memory card, as she likes to make scrapbook pages. He would like new Nike running shoes, size 12 1/2.

Aleisha said she wants a Barbie. Isaac wants a scooter and a train. Skyler wants a scooter and anything to do with Iron Man.

Michael said last year the family had a minimal Christmas.

“But this year there was no way I could get presents,” he said. “I couldn’t find any money.”

To help the Mitchell family, please drop off donated items or send money to the Tooele Transcript Bulletin, 58 N. Main St., Tooele, Utah 84074, with items clearly marked “Christmas Benefit Fund.” The deadline for donations is Friday, Dec. 19.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com