We moved into our 170 year old house six months prior to our son being born. It was to be our forever home, a project that needed some, mostly cosmetic, work doing to it, but one we would raise our family (including our older daughter) in. At the time, I was successfully self employed, and this seemed like our perfect new beginning.
Our son was born the following May, and was immediately diagnosed with missing hard and soft palates and a heart condition, Tetralogy of Fallot, which combines pulmonary stenosis, ventricular septal defect, over-riding aorta and a thick right ventricle. It is common enough that the surgical techniques are well practised, but requires open heart surgery before the end of the first year. He underwent surgery at six months, and although the surgery was a success, the aftercare nearly killed him when he suffered two collapsed lungs.
He had two more operations to repair his palates before he was four years old. He also suffers from congenital cervical thoracic anomalies, compounded by scoliosis and a Sprengel shoulder, and lacks an ear drum in his left ear.
He is a happy, charming young man with a wide circle of friends and a bright future ahead of him, just about to embark on his GCSE year.
My wife's health detioriates at an increasing rate. In no particular order of importance, she had a stroke last year caused by a cavernoma in her left frontal lobe, suffers with psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia and degenerative disc disease, and has been unable to work for at least a dozen years due to constant pain. She is unable to do much about the house, and little if anything to help with the upkeep and maintenance of it.
My self-employment had been a godsend because I could work around the (mostly health) needs of the family but the pandemic put paid to that and I am now fortunate to be working part time for an extremly understanding and flexible local business. However, money is extremely limited - in Theresa May's immortal definition, we are indeed JAM - and minor maintenance can be coped with and undertaken by myself.
But not a roof repair.
Whatever has gone on up there, whether through cowboy contractors or the elements and time, we need part of the roof re-tiling and the chimney stack repairing before it falls through the roof. We've found a local firm who've given us a decent quote, but their hands are tied by the cost of scaffolding hire, and we can't make what is left of our savings stretch to cover the shortfall.
That's what we need help with; I know there are other causes out there much more deserving of your support, but we've never asked for any help before and I'm hoping that people see that we're not asking for megabucks, just enough to repair the roof properly.
So if you can help out with a small donation, or maybe even better, know a company that would let us have the scaffolding for free, then you would have our eternal gratitude.