My husband has been trapped inside our home for over 5 years as we have attempted to afford medical care and save for a mobility scooter, but with the ever-increasing cost of living, I have realised he may remain trapped forever. He deserves to be able to go outside and helping us in any way would be lifechanging.

When my husband was 18, he was assaulted by ten men with baseball bats in a case of mistaken identity which left him permanently disabled with permanent nerve damage in his legs and crumbling discs in his spine , CPTSD and a lifetime of nightmares every night. He could have run away, but these violent maniacs began destroying his car whilst his friends were inside and Ross attempted to protect them, at cost to himself. These friends abandoned him as his disability worsened. Ross insists it was the right thing to do, and he wouldn’t change what he did even knowing the outcome, as “protecting others and helping when you can is the right thing to do”

This was only part of the unending suffering that has been my husband’s life.

Abandoned by his bipolar birth mother, Ross was put up for adoption against the wishes of his father, Marlon, who subsequently suffered a psychotic break and was institutionalised after losing his son. Ross, whose adoptive parents told him none of this, spent his whole life feeling out of place in his new family and dreaming about meeting his father. When Ross began exhibiting more of his (undiagnosed) autistic traits, he was thrown out of his home. Ross learned a trade and worked hard, truly loving his work as an electrician as it allowed him to help people and his words “be their hero”

Over a decade later Ross finally met his birth father, Marlon, a joyous experience but one that would soon sour. Only 3 years later, suffering from a major depressive episode and psychosis, Marlon took his own life by jumping from a 5th floor window. As you can imagine, losing a parent this way is horrific, but to lose your father after having waited 30 years to meet him was too much. Ross suffered a psychological break as a result of the grief, attempting to hang himself to alleviate the burden of his care. Following this Ross was diagnosed as autistic, further confusing and overwhelming him, his back deteriorated causing his pain to become unbearable and he was no longer able to continue work as an electrician.

You would probably think this is bad enough, but once he was no longer able to work, and possibly jealous of the grief Ross had shown for Marlon, his adoptive father disowned him, citing Ross’s disability and inability to work as the reasons. Having never known his biological father growing up, Ross had always tried to make his adoptive father proud with everything he did, from sports to studying to working his butt off, it was never enough to win his father's approval. This hurt Ross in ways he has never been able to articulate, but I imagine it would be akin to yet another abandonment. His mum and brother wouldn’t stand up for him or stand against Ross’s adoptive father and eventually they chose to abandon him as well rather than take a stand against that behaviour.

Ross feels abandoned by everything and everyone he’s ever cared about. He spends his days in unending pain, trapped at home because we will never be able to afford the nearly 5k that mobility scooters can cost. Recently Ross has had to undergo minor surgery to remove a lump from his tongue, to carry out a biopsy to determine whether it is cancerous and if he will have to undergo chemotherapy.

I am pleading with you on his behalf. Please help us, please help me help him.