36 Atoll Avenue

Harbour View
Kingston 17
December 9, 2014
Human Resource Manager
The Atrium
Third Floor
32 Trafalgar Road
Kingston 10

Dear Sir / Madam,

This letter is a sincere and desperate cry for help. The problem is that our family has
been plagued with a series of medical conditions that have driven us off the
financial cliff. In 2009 my husband Edly Stewart survived a failed back surgery. This
left him unable to walk or pass waste without assistance. With months of
physiotherapy Edly was able to walk with the assistance of a walker. In 2012 my
husband suffered from a major stroke at the University Hospital that once gain,
leaving him completely crippled. Since the stroke in 2012 my husband was never
able to independently use his bladder or bowel. He was taught how to catheterize
himself and either my daughter or I would evacuate his bowels. My daughter and I
do everything for Edly except for breathing.
His only means of communication includes blinking his eyes and when he felt strong
enough, nod his head slightly. On his good days I would watch him gradually move
his head and try to scratch his eye. He appears to have signs of dementia like
decreased motivation and impaired thinking skills and decreased memory. This is
particularly unfortunate because he was once such a strong, intelligent and loving
husband and father. Swallowing is hard for my husband so he is reluctant to chew
his food. If he swallows he stands the chance of food traveling into his lungs,
resulting in pneumonia. His food, on account of this, is pureed. We hoped that he
would pull the food through a straw or slurp it from a spoon. He unfortunately
lacked the strength to accomplish either of these tasks for any length of time. We
then forced his lips open, placed a kitchen funnel between his teeth and gradually
poor the food into his mouth from a cup. This is how Edly was being fed for
approximately the last three years. Urinary tract infections and extremely low
sodium levels has had Edly in and out of the hospital since 2012.
Edly is 175lb and 510. My daughter and I struggle to turn him every two to three
hours a day. We do not have a hospital bed so it is particularly difficult to sit my
husband up at a ninety degree angle in the bed for his feeding time. One of us has
to climb up in the bed to lift him up while the other stacks the pillows behind his

back. If both my daughter and I cannot be present at the same time one of us is left
to struggle and lift him up and stack the pillows behind his back.
You would think that things would not get worse but eight weeks ago my husband
suffered from severe seizures and another horrible stroke that led to further
damaged of his remaining brain cells. He spent ten uncertain dreadful days in the
hospital. Edly stopped breathing when he arrived at the hospital so the doctors
started pumping oxygen into his lungs. Examination showed that oxygen stopped
flowing to his brain for about fifteen minutes or more. The doctors told us that if
they stopped providing him with oxygen he would not be able to continue breathing
on his own for a long period of time. Edly was in such a vegetative state that the
doctors decided that they were going to discontinue any support that would assist
Edly with his breathing. We didnt think he would make it through the night. We
never left his side. The doctors said he wouldnt make it .That Sunday night Edly
proved his resilience. Edly breathed on his own all night. He was doing so well that
they admitted him on a medial ward by midday the following Monday and provided
him with oxygen.
Edly is now home, his eyes are bright, he is moving his fingers and scratching his
eyes. Taking care of him is very hard but I still cannot imagine losing him and my
soul-mate of forty five years. He is my entire life. My daughter and I are now facing
the additional challenge of healing the bed sores he got within three days of being
at the hospital. It took us one year to heal the last bed sore he got from the hospital.
It is hard to keep up with the purchase of the antibiotics, gauze pads and medical
tape. Since Edly is now unable swallow, he is fed through a tube that leads from his
belly directly to his stomach.
There is absolutely no room in the budget to hire any form of assistance. All of our
resources have been depleted. There is $1000 left in NCB Capital market account.
The OMNI I took out for my daughters college tuition is almost empty. Our monthly
income is $25,000. From said $25,000 we pay for our utilities and basic needs such
as food. We also try to purchase my husbands and my daughters medication. My
husbands medication alone is very expensive. Eye drops alone cost $6000. Edly
takes medication for each of his medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertention,
seizures and Parkinsons disease. We have to purchase catheters, lubricating gels
and pampers on a regular basis .Great sacrifices have been continually made to
purchase these items. The pharmacy in our community has a bill for us of $8000.
There is never a time that we do not owe the pharmacy money not to mention the
thousands of dollars we owe the hospital.
While my husbands diet is maintained there are days when my daughter and I have
one small meal for the day. I am getting weaker and thinner. My own brother didnt
recognize me. Poor dieting, heavy lifting and the stress of it all have sent me to the
hospital once so far. I now have a colon problem. Both my daughter and I suffer

from severe back pains in the back, neck and shoulder. My daughter very often has
pains in her chest.
Additionally my daughters health concerns are also problematic. My daughter has
Marfan Syndrome and has already done two heart surgeries so she should not be
doing all of this lifting. There is no one else to help me though. It is just us as no
other family members are willing to help. My daughter should have completed
school years ago but she had to stop for her own health purposes and now she
stays home to help me take care of her father. Since the beginning of September
my daughter has turned down job offers because I sincerely am too weak to stay
home and take care of Edly by myself. I am grieved by the suffering she has
endured because of me and her father. She is so young, we are keeping her back.
To top it all off I am getting sicker and weaker as a result of the accumulated stress.
I am a retired nurse in my mid sixties pounding sand to make ends meets. I get only
two to three hours a day. Sometimes I do not sleep at all. I feel my mind slipping
away from the lack of rest. Relaxation is blurry, distant memory. My daughter says
that I cry every night but I dont notice it any more. The relationship with my
daughter is strained. Is there a way that you could help me take care of my
husband? We are at our wits end and we need all the help we can get. We cant go
on much longer.
Yours sincerely,
..
Carmen Stewart.