My Brother Simon, is no stranger to hardships. His type 1 diabetes has over the years taken its toll on his health. He has lost the use of most of his eyesight, and suffers debilitating stomach issues. Despite all of this, up until recently Simon would soldier on. Taking his Daughter, Elodie to school and keeping up with all of his fatherly duties. Recently however things have taken a turn for the worse, both with his Physical and mental health as well as in his home life.

As anyone that knows my brother, will be aware, it takes a lot to bring him down. His easy going, friendly and helpful nature, means he is normally the one offering help, not asking for it. Over the last year and a half however, he has gotten trapped in a bit of a downward spiral. When his grandfather passed away last spring, Simon was at the risk of homelessness. The stress this caused Simon, resulted in him suffering a stroke. To make matters worse, whilst he was in hospital recovering his fears became reality and he was also evicted.

Simon is now living in a caravan, which is far from ideal. Because of Campsite rules, Simon has to constantly move sites. This is obviously causing many issues with his ability to keep up with his daughters schedule. Whilst he has Elodie as much as possible, sometimes due to his location and health it can be very difficult. As well as this, Simon is still recovering from a stroke, that has left him new health conditions, such as vertigo. As you might imagine, a Caravan is far from ideal for his recovery and meeting his health needs in general.

Whilst me and his brother James, have tried our best to assist, we have reluctantly realised Simon may need more help than we can offer. With the current housing crisis, and local health services being overloaded getting Simon the help he needs has been a long, difficult and mostly fruitless task. As a small example, Simon still isn't getting any help with his site fees from universal credit, even though he's been living in his caravan for 4 months now.

Whilst this is a “go Fund me” and is focused on raising funds to help Simon in the short term, the funds are actually not the main reason for us setting this up. Any funds raised from this will help Simon get through the next few months, but what Simon really needs is assistance getting the help he needs for the long term. We have contacted local MP's, councillors, and I have lost count of the number of E-mails and phone calls me and Simon have made to local council agencies. Despite this we seem to be as far away as ever from getting Simon the help he needs. Given this we also asking if anyone can help us get Simon the help he needs. Things we are looking for help with are,

~Anybody that knows of, or works for any local charities that may be able to help Simon.

~Anybody that might own a property in the Halesowen area, or know someone that does that would be willing to rent to Simon.

~Anybody that knows of, or has the relevant qualifications to help us with some legal issues. These are mostly concerning some areas where we believe Simon needs have been ignored by Local services.

Anyway Thank you for taking the time read a little about Simons story. I have kept it brief here, so if anyone thinks they can help, or wishes to know a little more about anything please don't hesitate to contact us.