Life after lock down
25 May 2020From Claire, James and the girls
Hi everyone,
Wow, did that Covid thing change the world! It has put a huge amount of extra stress on our family over the last 7 weeks. James was released from hospital the day of Lockdown. He is one of ‘those’ people who would be taken out by Covid. For us it was like having a pack of wolves waiting outside the gate. We were so scared every time we needed to go beyond our home, for the many hospital appointments and medical supplies. This whole ordeal has taken a huge toll on both his and my mental health (we have counselling and more now to deal with this). We hope we are past that soon.
James is still very unwell, and he has a very long road to recovery from this. He struggles every day with eating and maintaining any appetite and continues to drop weight, which we have yet to get on top of. 51kg is so very wrong for a 46-year-old man. It has taken a huge toll on him emotionally and physically.
Yesterday he had his first private OT session. He has a long way to go as he has lost almost all the muscle on his body. He cannot walk up a single step unassisted at this stage, but we hope with this intensive and targeted help he will progress. We have been going on little walks down the street, just 200m at this point, but again we hope to slowly build this up, as he is physically able.
The kids have been amazing over lock down and provided lots of love to their Dad which has been a blessing to come out of this thing. They are back to school this week and now that Covid is less of an issue, we will get the childcare assistance we need to survive.
Juggling James’s needs, the kids and my business has been massive. I have been beyond breaking on so many occasions, I have lost count. I have had my darling mum come from out of town, to help for a few days since lock down has lifted. It has been so nice to feel a little weight lifted for a few days. James and I just want to be normal, to be able to do normal again but its not going to be for quite some time yet.
Moving forward we will be using this Givealittle funding to arrange more assistance to help manage our situation. I desperately need to keep my business afloat as the sole breadwinner but need to balance this with the needs of the kids and James – I can’t do it alone. Somewhere in all of this we will find a new way of living. And this has only been possible by all your generous donations. So again, we are humbled, and we thank you. Xx
As the person who set up this page, I would like to say thank you so much for your generosity. When we started this, we had no idea what was about to hit us all. The lock down has added another level of stress to an already difficult time for these guys. Now through the generosity received within this Give A Little page, has provided this beautiful family with a little light to help navigate a very difficult time. For that I would like to say a huge thank you, to each and everyone of you.