
53 years of memories will be lost in a matter of weeks.
Donation protected
Hi my name is John Antony Dunne. I would like to tell you my story for the reason I am here. Please be sure to have a box of tissues with you when you read this. It is the truth and it can be verified by people that know me.
I have lived in my home with my mother for 53 years. We never had the finances to be able to afford to buy the house which is owned by a corporation called Henry Boot Ltd.
In 2016 my mother was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. A year later she was Diagnosed with Parkinson's related Dementia with Lewy Bodies which is one of the worst types of dementia you can get. When it came to the point when my mother could no longer function properly I did the only thing I could possibly do and that was to take care of her to the best of my ability.
With limited outside help and the fact that my siblings all had there own lives with work and children to care for as the only single child of my mother with no commitments it was down to me to care for her.
My daily routine was to get up at 7:30 a.m. ready to give my mother her tablets. Following that I would have to help her from her bed and take her to the bathroom. This was especially difficult due to the fact a son should never have to see his mother doing her business on the toilet. especially having to clean her after she had been, which was all the time in the last 4 years of her life with exception form the last 8 weeks. After the bathroom I would take her downstairs to have her breakfast (chocolate or apple porridge was her favourite) she would take more medication during her breakfast. I would then have to wait for the carer to come and dress my mother for the day. Generally she would turn up at 10 a.m. and stay for about 20 to 30 minutes getting my mother ready. The next task was my mother's next medication at 10:45 a.m. Lunchtime would be around 12 p.m. my mother got fussy towards the last 2 years of her life and her food choices became routine and would eat the same thing every lunchtime and would want 2 puddings each day. After lunch would be more medication. More medication between lunch and dinner with my mother enjoying a cup of hot chocolate about 3 p.m. After dinner which was around 5 p.m we would sit in silence or listen to music. My mother used to love watching the TV in the past but the last 3-4 years of her life she did not like the TV on at all while she was down stairs. So I would have to wait until after she had gone to bed before it was switched on. The evening carer woul turn up around 7 p.m to get my mother ready for bed. Depending on how tired she was and if the carer had arrived on time my mother would either come back down the stairs for about an hour and take her last medication or go straight to bed. Her final medications were at 7:45 then 8:30 p.m. this routine went on for 4 years. We had council grants for the home to be adapted. We had the bathroom turned into a wet room and a stair lift fitted. In the last 2 years when my mother's mobility got to the point when she could barely walk.
Social services decided that after caring for my mother for my mother for the past 5 years I needed a break so they decided to put her into respite for a couple of weeks so that I could get a health check myself. The two weeks became 5 and eventually due to poor care at the home my mother ended up in hospital due to not taking her medication at the correct times or refusing to take it and malnutrition because she refused to eat or the dementia made her forget how to.
They tried to feed her nasogastrically feed her and administer her meds through intravenous drip and with dermal patches.
At around 2 a.m. on the 9th of April my mother passed away after a 7 year battle with Parkinson's and 6 year battle with Dementia with Lewy Bodies related to the Parkinson's.
When the paperwork was all completed and my mother's passing had been recorded. I had been informed that I was unable to take on the house through succession due to the fact that succession had been past from my father to my mother when they divorced because her name was not on the original lease with my father. I was granted a six month temporary lease and informed that the house would go up for sale in 4 months. And I would be required to leave the premises by the 9th of October.
This has been my home for 53 years my grandparents who lived in the house next door to ours passed away in 2007 and there are still items from them in the house because my mother didn't want to get rid of them or never had the time. And those, on top of my mother items are making difficult to clear from the house. I have no where to go and at my age with minimal qualifications due to not being diagnosed with Dyslexia until I was in my early 30's and not getting the help when I was at school when I needed it the most, finding a job that would allow me to buy a house is near on impossible. Prior to caring for my mother I had been unsuccessful finding work for ten years due to redundancy from my last position due to the recession in 2008/9
I have skills and talents that would make me money but getting noticed for those skills and talents could take time.
Skills and talents:
1) Designer in many fields
2) Internationally Published Award winning poet
3) Twice published Author on Amazon Books
4) Carpentry.
Even with my books on Amazon I would need to sell 250,000 copies in Two months to afford to buy the house. This I imagine would not happen as I have never had the money to advertise my work so have sold around 20 copies in the last 5 years.
I lost my father last year to heart disease a week after he was given the all clear from throat cancer and a week before he was due to have his voice box reconstruction. My Godmother also passed away last year.
I hate begging for anything and have nothing to offer but my gratitude and who knows if all goes well and I finally sell a book worthy of a fortune then maybe someday I could help someone in the future with similar difficulties.
The memories of my mother will be for ever strong in my mind but loosing the family home will be like loosing a part of her. And that is not something I want to loose.
Judy Irene Dunne 29/03/46 passed away on Tuesday 09/04/24 aged 78 at St' Peters Hospital Chertsey, Surrey.
You will be forever in our hearts.
Organizer

John Dunne
Organizer
England