Foster mum in her hour of need
Roma Prosser is the kindest, most selfless person I have ever met. Shortly after I was born, my parents descended into a life of heroin addiction and crime. Roma, who had worked with my father at the local meat works, took me in an an infant and cared for me as if I were her own. Every time my parents were imprisoned or otherwise incapable of caring for me (which was arbitrary least 70% of my life) Roma took me in to her home, sent me to school, fed and clothed me, and even paid for and took me to dancing lessons. My parents went on to have three more children whom they could not adequately care for, and eventually Roma was caring for four young children full time. Not once did Roma apply for or receive any government benefits while she was caring for us. She cared for and raised us into adulthood, spending her savings on things that should have been our parents responsibility such as school books, extra curricular activities and even orthodontic work. Eventually, she and her disabled son Sidney sold their two bedroom home and moved in to a rental property that was big enough for the six of us (and her long time boarder George, who himself became the grandfather we never had).
It is hard to articulate how much Roma has done for me and my family. I love and admire her more then I can described to you in words which is why it was so increadibly devastating when we learned about six months ago that she had lung cancer. Roma has never smoked a cigarette in her life, never worked with aspestos and yet she was among the rare few people to develope a form a small cell lung cancer that is unrelated to environmental factors. The cancer is so rare that doctors at Peter MacCallum had never seen her particular mutation before.
Sadly, there is not a tremendous amount that doctors can do for Roma as she is not strong enough to tolerate chemotherapy. All we can do is manage her symptoms and try to make her remaining time (hopefully many more months) as comfortable and fulfilling as possible. This is becoming increasingly difficault because of financial constraints. Roma's son Sidney suffers from chromic lung disease and is unable to work. I have left my job to dedicate myself full time to caring for Roma and grandpa George, who was diagnosed with metastic prostate cancer only three months before Roma. They both require transport to and from medical appointments, multiple daily medications, physical therapy, oxygen and hospital equipment. Roma also requires daily nursing care.
The sad irony is that by selling her house and using the funds to care for my siblings and I, Roma, Sid and George now rely entirely on their pensions to pay for their rent, daily expenses and all of the additional medical expenses that they now face. Since I have had to leave work to care for them full time, I am unable to assist them financially anymore and I fear that soon what little money we have will be gone and I will be forced to move them out of their house and into a government hospice or aged care facility (my small unit is not big enough for all of us, and the configuration will not support the required medical equipment).I cannot think of a worse outcome for these most selfless of people. I will gladly care for them full time for as long as they have left on this earth and my deepest wish is for them to be able to live their remaining time at home, surrounded but their pets and doing the simple things that bring them joy like watching the races, having Sunday lunch and receiving visits from old friends.
Any money raised from this campaign will go towards keeping Roma and George in their home, transporting them to and from their multiple weekly medical appointments, prescription medication, hospital equipment such as a wheelchair (we are currently renting one from the hospital) and the electricity required to power the oxygen machines.
If there was ever a person who deserved the very best end of life care, it is Roma Prosser. She dedicated her retirement and her life savings to raising four children that had no genetic or familial connection to her and she has never asked for a single thing in return. So I will ask for help... please help me keep the kindest person I have ever know happy, pain free and at home for whatever time she has left.
