[1] In 1983, McCain was homeless and had children, and had been placed by New York City at the welfare hotel Martinique, which had poor conditions.
[2] She was a battered woman, and as she moved from city-supported apartments to shelters and back, her husband once found her and broke her nose.
[2] In 1996 McCain and her children were able to move into a rent-subsidized two-bedroom apartment on Staten Island, where she was living at the time of her death in 2011.
She worked as a nurse's aide for some time, and earned an associate degree in human services from the Borough of Manhattan Community College in 2005.
In the years before her death she worked in the health services office of the Borough of Manhattan Community College.