HOPING NOT TO LOSE OUR HOME

My name is Carol and I’ve spent my life frugally and living moderately. I had always made my payments and never defaulted on anything. But things have changed. Life hasn't been easy for us the past 2 ½ years, and in the past six months, it has become almost impossible.

Everything changed in June of 2022, when my husband, Carlos, had a fall at work, injuring both shoulders and both knees. WSIB took charge and he was sent to different specialists, one for the shoulders, another for the knees. Only one joint was treated at a time. He had x-rays, CTScans, MRIs and ultrasounds and he was sent to physiotherapy. Finally in February of 2023, the left knee was operated on. After several more months of physio, the surgeon, who was hired by WSIB, cleared him to return to work. His family doctor disagreed and sent him for more tests. During all that time, nothing was done to address the tear in his right knee, which had become progressively worse as it had been compensating for the left knee. Carlos was told by the shoulder specialist, that neither of his shoulders were good candidates for surgery due to osteoporosis, and that he would just have to live with the pain until deemed old enough to have shoulder replacement surgery.

In the meantime, we sold our house in Hamilton and moved to Windsor where houses are cheaper. His doctor referred him to an orthopaedic surgeon here, in Windsor, who said that the right knee did indeed require surgery. He finally had the operation in April of 2024, almost 2 years after the accident. Because he had the surgery and had refused to go back to work, WSIB cut him off.

He again went to physio to strengthen the right knee and started checking out jobs in the area. He has actively been searching for work across Canada since July of this year. His experience lies in AZ trucking. He drove big rigs for 18 years, both long haul, across Canada and the USA, as well as driving tanker in the oil fields of Alberta for 3 years, b-train(2 trailers) and reefer(refrigerated). Then in 2019, in a bid to stay home, he started working as a roads operator for the City of Hamilton – plowing snow, fixing potholes, etc. Who knew that would make it so difficult to find AZ work again! For insurance purposes, he is now considered a new AZ driver! He needs the AZ work, because with his shoulder and knee limitations, he can no longer do labourer work, and he doesn’t have the resources to train for anything else.

He got a job in October, where he worked for 2 ½ weeks. The first 2 weeks he took online courses for hauling hazardous materials, receiving certification in all required areas. Then, when he went to actually do the job, it required climbing aboard the tanker several times a day! The tankers he had worked on in Alberta, had all been equipped with ground level controls which required no climbing, so he had not foreseen this problem. Obviously, the shoulder and knee pain created restrictions, necessitating leaving the job.

He has now procured another position as an AZ trucker, doing mostly short runs through Ontario and Quebec, but he has to move to the Brockville area to do so. The job also doesn't start until January 13th., which means he won't receive his first full pay until February! We are okay with him moving there. It's a necessary step.

The obstacles we face are that he has had no money coming in since June, and the money we had left over from selling the Hamilton house has been spent and his credit cards are maxed out. We are dependent on my credit cards. Also, I have my pension, but it isn't near enough. I don't get even $2000 a month. Needless to say, we are behind in payments and run the risk of losing our little house. We do intend to sell it and purchase a mobile home. In the meantime, he has to make his auto payments and take care of his auto insurance, before they repo his vehicle (which he needs in order to get to work), pay our credit cards, (which we are depending for our food), AND he needs first and last month's rent on a small apartment near Brockville.

Never in our worst nightmares did we ever foresee ourselves in this position. We are hoping to raise $10,000 to get us over the hump – to catch up on the payments we’ve missed, help with the move, and continue to survive until he starts getting regular payments. We also have 3 cats and a dog. We hate asking for help, but we are out of options. We have no family to assist us. We are counting on the good hearts of friends and friends of friends to keep us going until February. Thank you so much.