Help to stop losing my home
Donation protected
The last few years have been, well a bit distraught. After working in the NHS for nearly 34years as a clinical respiratory physiologist I lost my job to continuing Illness.
It started about 5 years ago when i would catch a cold, a simple thing, but it started to affect my chest and breathing. I would have fever and the bugs would linger for longer than expected. After 18 months of this I had regular time off due to regular (every 4-6 weeks) chest infections, fatigue and general feeling ill. My lymph glands became enlarged and painful. I was sent for tests for suspected lymphoma in January last year (2019) a worrying time.
Luckily this was not the case but they did find that I had a small mass in my right kidney. Further tests showed it was enhancing on CT, the consultant said it was 70% chance it was malignant, again another worrying time. It was too small to do anything about so I was put on active monitoring, MRI scans every 12 months.
Luckily it was not growing, reducing the apparent risk but they could not be certain. It started to take a toll on my mental wellbeing at this point and the regular chest infections continued. With the birth of my second child at the age of 53 I became depressed and went onto antidepressants. The feeling I could not cope made me feel worse as I could not sort this out myself, I felt helpless.
A breakthrough, on one of the scans they found I had a lung disease called Bronchiectasis, this probably was the cause of my repeated chest infections. I was seen by a respiratory consultant who put me on antibiotics every other day and (touch wood) my chest has been good since.
January 2019, I started to suffer from migraines, I never really suffered headaches before but these we painful, I remember screaming in pain for it to stop.
My GP put me on treatment the just made me sleep, 20+ hours a day and it took about 6 months for this to have an effect. they are under control now, I rarely take the pills but the lump in my kidney reamins, we talked about taking it out but the trauma of surgery for a small unknown was not worth the risk.
I lost my job! I hit rock bottom. 2 weeks’ severance pay for 34 years in the NHS.
After the embarrassing calls to my bank, credit card and loans companies asking for help, I had to sort this out. I started to locum, I only got paid for the time I worked. There aren’t many respiratory jobs through agencies, the nearest was 60 miles away, so I drove there and back again every day, the job was good for a couple of months. It took up to 2.5-3 hours some days to get to work but I needed money to feed my family. the job finished Christmas 2019.
I did not get another job until February 2020. Again, it was a 55-mile trip to work but Ii got paid until coronavirus came along.
I was a front-line worker, putting my life at risk every day during the start of the pandemic. Breathing tests meant that patients cough, usually at you rather than away from you. There was no protective equipment available until the last 2 weeks when.
I received a letter form the NHS/GP to say I was in a risk group and need to self-Isolate and shield for 12 weeks.
Because I was a locum, I would not get paid, no 80% from the government, no sick pay, the money runs out at the beginning of May 2020.
My wife works, her money used to pay for childcare, I’m looking after the kids while she works from home, she is able to pay the mortgage, but all the other bills I’m paying until the money runs out. Then nothing will get paid including my car. when this is all over, no car means not able to get to distant work places. I’m not entitled to universal credit as my wife works.
I would like to thank my local MP, Maria Eagle for her and her office’ staff help, they have badgered away and I did finally get some pay while isolating but only up to the 26th April when the timesheets ran out and they said I was not entitled to any more after this date and they offered 3 days’ pay per week for this last 2 weeks as they said I would have reduced hours although they did not mention this to me but did say they would need me all the more.
I find it hard to ask for help, I’ve worked all my adult life from the age of 16 but we as a family need help. Even a few pennies could make a difference. I know I’m not the only one in this situation, but if you can help, myself, my wife Danni and my kids, Harrison and Liliana thank you from the bottom of our hearts, it was not easy to do this, pride hurt and all that, I’ve been able to provide for myself and family for a long time.
Thank you
Tony
Update:
As of June 2020, I’m still self- isolating and shielding, this may end at the end of June, but looking at the number of deaths here in the North West, R value is increasing so we may have local lockdowns etc. The locum agencies have no work as the NHS is still in lockdown because of the virus and normal outpatient departments are not working at full capacity, only for emergency/urgent cases so I may be out of work a long time. Because I am shielding, I cannot look for work. I’ve looked at fruit/vegetable picking, local job adverts in other fields to get some money in and I will have to do that if I can get a job, difficult at 53 years of age but jobs are in short supply so financially we are looking at losing the house. I have contacted debt help agencies and they say bankruptcy may be the only option, in this case I will lose the house and have nowhere to live, plus it costs over £680 to register for bankruptcy which I can’t afford either.
The money runs out August, still no job although signing up to 3+ agencies.
all my payment holidays will stop, arrears will have to be paid and I can’t see a way forward. Please help if you can.IT - 09/07/2020
EDIT - 29/07/2020
Thank you to everyone who has donated, the money has really helped, I'm still not working, the NHS has not opened its doors fully so there are not many jobs around so I'm still looking for employment. The money is helping to pay my bills etc until the end of September now, Ive also sold some of my stuff on KVR marketplace (music related) to help.
After September I still do not know what will happen, no job, no support, I'm worried. Let's hope a job will open up in the NHS (I have also looked for jobs out of the NHS but with 1000 people applying for jobs as a receptionist I know i'm not the only one in this position) and i can get back to doing what I do best, looking after my patients!
Thank you all again
Edit 12/01/2021
Hi, after managing to get a few short term agency jobs one of which was a 2+ hours drive from my home the new national lockdown means I again have to shield from coronavirus and now cannot work. The jobs are drying up within the NHS as well due to lockdown as more resources are put into helping covid patients within the NHS. I am really scared of this new variant of coronavirus and do not want to infect any of my family. My creditors are now at the limit of what I can do in terms of payment holidays and reduced payments are not viable as I now do not have any income. Please help if you can, even a small amount could make a huge difference in the long term.
I think I am going to need more than the original £500 I asked for if covid restrictions keep happening, I feel like im hitting a brick wall everytime I get a short term job rather than it helping long term.
I have this crazy idea of starting a Car detailing/valeting business but need money to do that. I have been into detailing cars for a long time. I have a lot of the gear I need but need some extra items to make a viable start. I also need insurance to be safe. A dream, yes, A hope, Yes,
thank you again for any help
It started about 5 years ago when i would catch a cold, a simple thing, but it started to affect my chest and breathing. I would have fever and the bugs would linger for longer than expected. After 18 months of this I had regular time off due to regular (every 4-6 weeks) chest infections, fatigue and general feeling ill. My lymph glands became enlarged and painful. I was sent for tests for suspected lymphoma in January last year (2019) a worrying time.
Luckily this was not the case but they did find that I had a small mass in my right kidney. Further tests showed it was enhancing on CT, the consultant said it was 70% chance it was malignant, again another worrying time. It was too small to do anything about so I was put on active monitoring, MRI scans every 12 months.
Luckily it was not growing, reducing the apparent risk but they could not be certain. It started to take a toll on my mental wellbeing at this point and the regular chest infections continued. With the birth of my second child at the age of 53 I became depressed and went onto antidepressants. The feeling I could not cope made me feel worse as I could not sort this out myself, I felt helpless.
A breakthrough, on one of the scans they found I had a lung disease called Bronchiectasis, this probably was the cause of my repeated chest infections. I was seen by a respiratory consultant who put me on antibiotics every other day and (touch wood) my chest has been good since.
January 2019, I started to suffer from migraines, I never really suffered headaches before but these we painful, I remember screaming in pain for it to stop.
My GP put me on treatment the just made me sleep, 20+ hours a day and it took about 6 months for this to have an effect. they are under control now, I rarely take the pills but the lump in my kidney reamins, we talked about taking it out but the trauma of surgery for a small unknown was not worth the risk.
I lost my job! I hit rock bottom. 2 weeks’ severance pay for 34 years in the NHS.
After the embarrassing calls to my bank, credit card and loans companies asking for help, I had to sort this out. I started to locum, I only got paid for the time I worked. There aren’t many respiratory jobs through agencies, the nearest was 60 miles away, so I drove there and back again every day, the job was good for a couple of months. It took up to 2.5-3 hours some days to get to work but I needed money to feed my family. the job finished Christmas 2019.
I did not get another job until February 2020. Again, it was a 55-mile trip to work but Ii got paid until coronavirus came along.
I was a front-line worker, putting my life at risk every day during the start of the pandemic. Breathing tests meant that patients cough, usually at you rather than away from you. There was no protective equipment available until the last 2 weeks when.
I received a letter form the NHS/GP to say I was in a risk group and need to self-Isolate and shield for 12 weeks.
Because I was a locum, I would not get paid, no 80% from the government, no sick pay, the money runs out at the beginning of May 2020.
My wife works, her money used to pay for childcare, I’m looking after the kids while she works from home, she is able to pay the mortgage, but all the other bills I’m paying until the money runs out. Then nothing will get paid including my car. when this is all over, no car means not able to get to distant work places. I’m not entitled to universal credit as my wife works.
I would like to thank my local MP, Maria Eagle for her and her office’ staff help, they have badgered away and I did finally get some pay while isolating but only up to the 26th April when the timesheets ran out and they said I was not entitled to any more after this date and they offered 3 days’ pay per week for this last 2 weeks as they said I would have reduced hours although they did not mention this to me but did say they would need me all the more.
I find it hard to ask for help, I’ve worked all my adult life from the age of 16 but we as a family need help. Even a few pennies could make a difference. I know I’m not the only one in this situation, but if you can help, myself, my wife Danni and my kids, Harrison and Liliana thank you from the bottom of our hearts, it was not easy to do this, pride hurt and all that, I’ve been able to provide for myself and family for a long time.
Thank you
Tony
Update:
As of June 2020, I’m still self- isolating and shielding, this may end at the end of June, but looking at the number of deaths here in the North West, R value is increasing so we may have local lockdowns etc. The locum agencies have no work as the NHS is still in lockdown because of the virus and normal outpatient departments are not working at full capacity, only for emergency/urgent cases so I may be out of work a long time. Because I am shielding, I cannot look for work. I’ve looked at fruit/vegetable picking, local job adverts in other fields to get some money in and I will have to do that if I can get a job, difficult at 53 years of age but jobs are in short supply so financially we are looking at losing the house. I have contacted debt help agencies and they say bankruptcy may be the only option, in this case I will lose the house and have nowhere to live, plus it costs over £680 to register for bankruptcy which I can’t afford either.
The money runs out August, still no job although signing up to 3+ agencies.
all my payment holidays will stop, arrears will have to be paid and I can’t see a way forward. Please help if you can.IT - 09/07/2020EDIT - 29/07/2020
Thank you to everyone who has donated, the money has really helped, I'm still not working, the NHS has not opened its doors fully so there are not many jobs around so I'm still looking for employment. The money is helping to pay my bills etc until the end of September now, Ive also sold some of my stuff on KVR marketplace (music related) to help.
After September I still do not know what will happen, no job, no support, I'm worried. Let's hope a job will open up in the NHS (I have also looked for jobs out of the NHS but with 1000 people applying for jobs as a receptionist I know i'm not the only one in this position) and i can get back to doing what I do best, looking after my patients!
Thank you all again
Edit 12/01/2021
Hi, after managing to get a few short term agency jobs one of which was a 2+ hours drive from my home the new national lockdown means I again have to shield from coronavirus and now cannot work. The jobs are drying up within the NHS as well due to lockdown as more resources are put into helping covid patients within the NHS. I am really scared of this new variant of coronavirus and do not want to infect any of my family. My creditors are now at the limit of what I can do in terms of payment holidays and reduced payments are not viable as I now do not have any income. Please help if you can, even a small amount could make a huge difference in the long term.
I think I am going to need more than the original £500 I asked for if covid restrictions keep happening, I feel like im hitting a brick wall everytime I get a short term job rather than it helping long term.
I have this crazy idea of starting a Car detailing/valeting business but need money to do that. I have been into detailing cars for a long time. I have a lot of the gear I need but need some extra items to make a viable start. I also need insurance to be safe. A dream, yes, A hope, Yes,
thank you again for any help
Organizer
Anthony Parkes
Organizer
England
