Constance Bay Family Battles Flood and Dementia
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Contact for more information or gifts in kind:
Greg Patacairk
[email redacted]
613-979-8393
Our family has been through so much in the past 3 years and we are now sadly at the point where we need to reach out for help.
Our family of 5 (myself, my husband, two sons and nephew) moved into a home that we could afford on Bayview Drive in August of 2003. The house is not waterfront and we had never thought that we would be at risk of flooding. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Our home suffered its second flood in spring 2019. This was extremely devastating especially as we were still renovating from the spring flood that occurred in spring 2017 (to which our insurance informed us that we were technically not insured for that specific type of flooding and had to pay everything out of pocket). As we did not want to suffer the same financial fate and loss, we had upgraded our insurance policy to include all types of flooding. We did not find out from insurance that the policy did not include foundation damage until it was much too late to apply for any other funding and has left us paying monthly expenses for a home we cannot live in nor afford to fix. We have been evacuated from our home since April 30, 2019.
Through these floods my husband was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), a rare form of progressive dementia that affects the frontal temporal lobe that has no cure and a life expectancy of 2 to 10 years. Symptoms include but are not limited to poor judgement, loss of empathy, lack of inhibition, repetitive compulsive behaviour, speech difficulties, memory loss, balance problems, socially inappropriate behaviour. He was unable to continue to work as a result of FTD and his loss of income has been financially and emotionally devastating for us.
I am now dealing with my husband's affliction (being his full-time caregiver), working many extra hours to keep up with household expenses and am caring for my children and nephew. As a child, my middle son Jon was diagnosed with severe receptive and language delay. He expresses his loss of hope and sadness on a daily basis. All he wants is to be home, as do all of us. My youngest son Anthony was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), an intellectual disability and anxiety. Since his father’s diagnosis, losing his home and all these life changes, his anxiety is much worse. He now suffers from panic attacks, emotional outbursts, lack of sleep and depression.
It has been a long year moving from place to place, insurance funds for our rental ran out March 1, 2020, so my cousin opened their hearts and hunting camp to us. An insulated 10x15, single room, no running water, chemical toilet and a Coleman stove for myself, my husband, 3 teenage boys, 2 dogs and 2 cats. It was an extra 40 km drive to my work, my husband’s appointments, etc. For four months we had called this our home. As thankful as we were, this was yet another toll on our energy, moral and life’s ambition.
On July 10th, we received an email from insurance informing us that we were in fact covered for rental housing. My family comes first and I took my last ounce of patience and packed everything to move. Grateful as we were, my duties as a wife and caregiver to my husband had now increased as all this change had affected and advanced his dementia.
Frankly, my time has been occupied by keeping my family together in this hard and stressful time. We have been through many hardships as of late. Between work, my husband’s disease, my children’s disabilities and new situational factors, the loss of my home, constant moving and the feud with the insurance company, I have been completely overwhelmed.
We are still negotiating/fighting with the insurance to have a home to return to. We have no indication that insurance will pay for a new foundation and other major expenses and we of course cannot move forward with rebuilding our home without this funding. We are desperate to regain some sort of normalcy in our lives and will be ever grateful for any amount to help us to start along the process of rebuilding our lives. Any amount you feel able to donate will be a blessing and will be used towards building a home for us.
Thank you with all our hearts,
The Lepage Family
Greg Patacairk
[email redacted]
613-979-8393
Our family has been through so much in the past 3 years and we are now sadly at the point where we need to reach out for help.
Our family of 5 (myself, my husband, two sons and nephew) moved into a home that we could afford on Bayview Drive in August of 2003. The house is not waterfront and we had never thought that we would be at risk of flooding. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Our home suffered its second flood in spring 2019. This was extremely devastating especially as we were still renovating from the spring flood that occurred in spring 2017 (to which our insurance informed us that we were technically not insured for that specific type of flooding and had to pay everything out of pocket). As we did not want to suffer the same financial fate and loss, we had upgraded our insurance policy to include all types of flooding. We did not find out from insurance that the policy did not include foundation damage until it was much too late to apply for any other funding and has left us paying monthly expenses for a home we cannot live in nor afford to fix. We have been evacuated from our home since April 30, 2019.
Through these floods my husband was diagnosed with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), a rare form of progressive dementia that affects the frontal temporal lobe that has no cure and a life expectancy of 2 to 10 years. Symptoms include but are not limited to poor judgement, loss of empathy, lack of inhibition, repetitive compulsive behaviour, speech difficulties, memory loss, balance problems, socially inappropriate behaviour. He was unable to continue to work as a result of FTD and his loss of income has been financially and emotionally devastating for us.
I am now dealing with my husband's affliction (being his full-time caregiver), working many extra hours to keep up with household expenses and am caring for my children and nephew. As a child, my middle son Jon was diagnosed with severe receptive and language delay. He expresses his loss of hope and sadness on a daily basis. All he wants is to be home, as do all of us. My youngest son Anthony was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), an intellectual disability and anxiety. Since his father’s diagnosis, losing his home and all these life changes, his anxiety is much worse. He now suffers from panic attacks, emotional outbursts, lack of sleep and depression.
It has been a long year moving from place to place, insurance funds for our rental ran out March 1, 2020, so my cousin opened their hearts and hunting camp to us. An insulated 10x15, single room, no running water, chemical toilet and a Coleman stove for myself, my husband, 3 teenage boys, 2 dogs and 2 cats. It was an extra 40 km drive to my work, my husband’s appointments, etc. For four months we had called this our home. As thankful as we were, this was yet another toll on our energy, moral and life’s ambition.
On July 10th, we received an email from insurance informing us that we were in fact covered for rental housing. My family comes first and I took my last ounce of patience and packed everything to move. Grateful as we were, my duties as a wife and caregiver to my husband had now increased as all this change had affected and advanced his dementia.
Frankly, my time has been occupied by keeping my family together in this hard and stressful time. We have been through many hardships as of late. Between work, my husband’s disease, my children’s disabilities and new situational factors, the loss of my home, constant moving and the feud with the insurance company, I have been completely overwhelmed.
We are still negotiating/fighting with the insurance to have a home to return to. We have no indication that insurance will pay for a new foundation and other major expenses and we of course cannot move forward with rebuilding our home without this funding. We are desperate to regain some sort of normalcy in our lives and will be ever grateful for any amount to help us to start along the process of rebuilding our lives. Any amount you feel able to donate will be a blessing and will be used towards building a home for us.
Thank you with all our hearts,
The Lepage Family
Organizer and beneficiary
Katherine Woodward
Organizer
Carp, ON
Melissa Gingras-Lepage
Beneficiary
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