Help him if you can…
A friend, Roland, contacted me for financial help recently. He was one of my ex-colleagues when I was working in NLB 5 years ago.
His wife is terminally ill and he has quit his job to take care of her. His story came out in the NewPaper 2 years back on 14 Feb. For the past 5 years, he has been taking care of his wife, bringing her to and fro the hospital until recently she was required to stay in the NUH (for 1 year + now).
Alan and I went to visit him at NUH last saturday. He told us that he has used up all his funds. CDC has stopped giving him grant recently and he’s only getting $300 per mth from a catholic church (he has dried up his medisave). Now, he requires an extra $300 every month to tide him over… He is on self-reliant scheme currently and he can’t work as once he started working, all the grants would be reduced or cut off. He has seeked for all kinds of help from the government, sadly none can help him.
Just thought that we should help him out a bit. Alan and I are trying to raise some funds for him currently (Alan is also asking his aunt for help to raise funds for him from the Church). I understand each of us have our own committment but if one can contribute or donate abit of money every month (rather than donating to some dubious charity organisations), I guess it will at least help him to tide over (until his wife passed on). He told us that he went into depression for the last 2 mths and he is really strong to overcome it, luckily with some encouragements from his friends.
His wife is still conscious but not in her clear state of mind and he is unwilling to give up.
“How many married couples out there actually takes their vows seriously?” he asked.
He had seen husband leaving wife when he found out that she had cancer. Husband announcing that the wife has passed away, relievingly without a hint of sadness. Children cheated their terminally ill mother to sell the flat so that they can get the money… so on…
While talking to him at the hospital, he was gently caressing her, shifting her to make sure that she is comfortable whenever she fidgets. We were touched by his love for her.
Thought that we should at least give him some moral support if we can’t contribute financially, or perhaps think of some ways to help him.
Do let me know if you would like to contribute or have any idea how to help him.
One Comment on “Help him if you can…”
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February 29, 2008 at 2:01 pm
The NEWPAPER is a powerful tool, if he can get them to do another interview and reflect his situation, it will reach out to more readers . There will definitely be response in money or in kind.