Hi Everyone,

We have a new urgent need.

With Peter's health deteriorating and Sam is now bed bound on palliative care full time end of life stage.

We are in desperate need of financial assistance with bills, paying medical appointments etc.

Peter's diagnosis of somatic dementia has brought so many challenges. He can longer care for me and his speech is failing due to his form of dementia

Despite having a Level 4 my aged care package we are still out of pocket as the funds are only released each month and are not enough to cover the specialised care he requires.

“It Takes a Village” is such a familiar phrase for most of us, isn’t it.

We never thought we would need a Go Fund me account but have come to realise there are times in all our lives when we simply need to ask for help from a "village" of people, who may be able to assist just a little, so we can raise just enough.

For those who don't know us, we are Samantha (Sam) and Peter and we find ourselves in need of "village" support to help us achieve an important financial goal.

As family and friends know Sam's health has become a spiralling journey for 14 years since she was diagnosed with a rare bone disease, causing widespread pathological fractures throughout her body. She had no option but to retire from a successful and rewarding career as an Executive Manager in a Financial institution. Her left femur pathologically broke in two in 2014 as she was walking to her bedroom door. She should have been in a major car crash to have sustained such an injury and we are so blessed her femoral artery wasn't severed. As a result, she was diagnosed with a rare bone disease believed to be caused by a mutant gene. Her bones become dense and her bone turnover is neglible, creating diseased bone and ultimately breaks, fractures and spinal stenosis. Other serious medical issues have presented which may or may not be related. Her medical team are unsure as her case is so complex.

Sam has had 20 surgeries in 14 years. She has a permanent stoma due to prolapses and her lumbar spine is now completely unstable, but inoperable due to the integrity of her bones. Her broken bones don't heal. She constantly has at least 8 foot fractures, some chronic, some acute. There is unfortunately no treatment or cure for this progressive disease and she is now a quadriplegic due to her cervical spine collapsing and in end stages of her life under the care of a palliative care team

Her specialist have assigned her to palliative in order to see out her end of life at home if possible

Sam remains positive and has found ways to keep her mind active as an author and a blogger, and a patient advocate, volunteering online with various organisations, including Arthritis Queensland. She is also the founder of a global FB support group for people with chronic illness, called Medical Musings with Friends. You can read more of her story here:

www.mymedmusings.com

Unfortunately due to Sam's change of circumstances, she has needed to appoint administrators to these tasks and to continue as her legacy.

Peter was Sam's full-time carer and receives an aged pension and Sam receives a disability pension.

Due to ongoing medical expenses, all savings have been used and a large personal loan accumulated. There is no ability to stretch the fortnightly pension any further. It's only thanks to some beautiful friends, generously lending us some money over the past months, we have just managed to keep our heads above water financially however this is not sustainable and further financial assistance is required urgently.

Sam does have an NDIS package which helps us with carers and mobility equipment, medical consumables, allied health professionals etc and we are so grateful for this assistance.

Ideally, we really need to release equity from our home to have a small amount of savings to supplement our pension for medical expenses, including essential out of pocket costs for Specialist and GP appointments, prescriptions etc.

However, we own a home in an over 50s lifestyle village and these can't be used for reverse mortgage loans, which would have been the perfect solution to release equity and remain settled in our current home. Moving is not recommended due to the impact it will have physically on Sam, plus Peter is now in his 80's and with his own health struggles routine and familiar structure is crucial to managing his dementia.

This means the money we raise here will be so important to help fund us to stay in our existing home for as long as possible.

We need funds to

1. Cover unexpected costs related to Sam & Peter's health.

2. Cover our ongoing fortnightly living/medical expenses gap. This is required until at least mid March when our safety net will be reached for medical needs

3. Assists with paying the large medical personal loan accrued over the past 10 years due to the 20 surgeries, numerous tests and procedures and medical appointments.

4. Assist with day to day living expenses such as food, grocery shops, and personal care needs

Any help would be gratefully received and if you are unable to give financially your prayer support and sharing our page, with your family, friends, and colleagues if possible, would be wonderful.

Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts.

Sam and Peter ❤️