Help Us Save Our Home

Hi

My name is Kevin Mc Ardle, I'm 39 years old and from Collon Co Louth Ireland.

I never thought I would find myself in this situation myself and my family are facing right now, so I am writing this with a heavy heart and at this stage it's time for me to set my pride and ego aside and put myself and my families story out into the public domain and ask for some serious help from everybody that this message gets to.

Here is our story.....

I've worked all my life since the age of 18 or 19, I am 39 now, I've spent most of them years working as a painter and decorator, i have worked hard all my working life, in 2014 I gave up my job as a painter and moved out of the private house which myself and family were renting, I moved back home with my family, myself, my partner Lauren and her daughter jaeda to my childhood home and became my mam's full time carer after she suffered a 2nd brain hemorrhage, her first brain hemorrhage occurred in 2003 which she survived through surgery, I was her full time carer for her for two years, previous to all this in 2011 my mam's marriage had broken down so this is why I took on full responsibility to take care of my mam in 2014 , in 2015 my mam was then diagnosed with vascular dementia, at that stage of my care for her things got really hard and to keep her safe myself and my siblings thought it best that she would be cared for better with medical supervision in a nursing home, at this stage myself and my family continued living in my childhood home and kept up with my mam's finances as in mortgage payments and all utility payments which we were contributing to also and in 2016 I returned to work as a painter as I wasn't a full time carer for my mam anymore , 6 months after her being admitted into the nursing home my mam started to complain about some back pain which we got investigated and the results came back and they were not good, my mam was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer with metastasis to the spine and sadly lost her life 17 days after being diagnosed in early April 2016, this was a very traumatic time for all of us, as it is for any family, before all of the above happened and even though all my mam was going through medically she was seeking a separation and seeking to get her will made regarding the family home, but due to delays with her solicitor, doctors and deteriorating health nothing came to fruition, which left a very worrying time for us at that point, myself and my family continued living on in my childhood home as it was my mam's wishes for us to do so on her passing, in all of this I was left with all funeral expenses to which I cleared in full myself, I was left with the majority of headstone costs which I did get help with from family and relatives, when everything kind of settled down after my mams passing , years went by and myself and my partner had two more children we had a little boy in 2017 he is nearly 5 now and we had a little girl in 2020 she is nearly 2 now, which then turned us into a family of five, we also done a lot of repair work to the house and maintained it in all this time and some renovation work as we were living here which we took out loans to finance it when I was working, in 2019 I injured my back while working and eventually had to give up my job as it was affecting my ability to do my job, which put an awful strain on my family financially with our ongoing loan repayments and living costs, in 2020 I was put on disability as the outcome from me not being physically able to work, due to results of an MRI scan I got done that proved I had ruptured two lower discs in my back which was affecting the main nerve in my right leg, and which I am still undergoing treatment to try and rectify the problem and which I'm hearing surgery might be the only option, so I will fast forward to early July 2021 our little girl of 11 months had two massive seizures and we spent 6 months in and out of hospital because nearly every month after the seizures she came down with viral infections, pneumonia, boca virus, and respiratory difficulties, on one occasion she was admitted into a high dependency unit on 24 hour around the clock watch in which she was having mini seizures a couple of minutes apart , which was also a very worrying, difficult and very strainful time on my family, she was on breathing machines, nebulisers and intravenous therapy with limited food intake for days upon end so it wouldn't aggravate her condition, we spent the week on the run in to new years eve and new years day which we spent in hospital with our little girl, Hello January 2022, due to further investigations and tests we found out she had a very low immune system and was lacking in vitamin D, which could have easily been caused by the lockdown due to Covid, since that she was put onto vitamin D medication and a probiotic solution daily which she still takes, and also we had her up in temple street hospital undergoing an EEG to investigate the seizures, thankfully the medication is working and the results of the EEG came back clear, which outrules Epilepsy which we were fearful of.

We think she is finally turning a corner and starting to come on in herself.

I will fast forward to 4th of April 2022 when I recieved a letter stating the family home was going to be sold. 

As I am not financially secure at the moment because I am not able to work, we have made every effort to get a loan from my bank, which I was told because I am not working I'm not eligible for a loan, we also approached the local council about a council mortgage and were also told no due to no employment, we also asked the council if they could purchase the house and leave us here as paying tenants and that was also refused, we also couldn't go on the housing list as they were satisfied that we had a home already, so we have exhausted all avenues up until this point and this was our last resort.

So we need urgent emergency assistance in raising these much needed funds to secure our home whether it's by donating or sharing our fundraiser as every bit of support is much appreciated and we would be so grateful for everyone's help as we will end up homeless if we can't fix this problem.

This is our home, this is all our children know and we are at rock bottom since this news landed on us, our little boy just started school and is nearly finished first term in junior infants , both him and his big sister is involved in the local GAA club and we are all so happy and are so afraid all our lives will be turned upside down if we don't get urgent help and are fearful of ending up Homeless.

We would like to make it clear we are not in dept, all our bills are paid and up to date, we just need vital support to raise funds to save our home. 

So ill finish with thanking anyone who takes the time to read our story, donates or shares our fundraiser.

Thanks so much

Kevin, Lauren, Jeada, Mayson and Savannah.

#helpafamilyoffivesurvive