Helping an Elderly man and his dog

Hello,

Please help me if you can. I am Jack Bankston, a 70 year old Hospice patient, with end stage COPD and congestive heart failure. I have been in the care of Hospice for close to a year. It took me quite sometime to come to grips that my life was ending, but finally I have reconciled myself to it. Knowing that I am at peace with my spirit, has certainly helped. There are times however, that I want death to come soon, knowing it would be a rest for me, but I keep on fighting. You see, even though I have no family and most of my friends have passed on, I do have my dog, Casey, my little hero, my ray of sunshine, the absolute love of my life. He is why I'm fighting so hard.

I live in an apartment, that I moved into with my Mom, that has since passed. I've resided here for the last 16 years. I have never been late with my rent and kept the owners property always in immaculate condition. I never made it a secret to him of my health issues, that I was on hospice and of my financial hardship. I pleaded with him last year to please freeze my rent, so I could continue to live here. He turned a deaf ear to my plea and raised my rent to $145 extra each month. I have scraped, depleted all of my savings, maxing out all of my credit cards, even eliminating some of my medicines, that Hospice is not providing to just keep afloat. Now, coming up next month, my lease comes up for renewal. 

Casey, my beloved companion also has health issues. His bill has reached $4200. I was informed just recently by the Vet, that the staff will continue to treat him, but with an outstanding balance this large, they will only be able to perform only mimimal diagnostic testing. The Doctors have been very kind to me and Casey and has never asked me to pay the balance in full, and I do understand that this is a business and not a charitable organization. He means so much to me. As I was receiving this news, tears were streaming down my face, and at one point, I thought that the only choice I had was to surrender him to the Vet, for adoption realizing that I had failed him as his owner. Even though Casey is very taxing on me physically and I can't give him the play time and excercise he needs, I make up for it in the love I show him every day, and he gives it back to me ten-fold. I lay with him. He follows me everywhere I go, and when I'm sitting, he's laying across my feet, and the thoughts of giving him up would be ultimately impossible. He holds me together like glue. He's my everything.

All I want in my life is to stay in my home, without a rent increase looming over me, thanking God for the extra day that he has allowed me to be with Casey, and to be able to pay his Vet bill down, so that he will be able to get the best medical care possible, and of course when I pass, have him by my side. For those that can donate towards my rent, I would be truly grateful. For ones that would be able to contribute to Casey's medical bill, the address is Triangle Veterinary Hospital, 3301 Old Chapel Hill Rd. Durham N.C. 27707. For everyone that took the time to read this letter, God Bless You All.
Jack