Spokane nurse faces another loss...
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Spokane Native faces another tragic loss...
When Nicole and Charles Richard moved to Austin four years ago, they didn’t expect to stay long. They didn’t expect to need help.
The couple had a house and a sense of community in Spokane, Washington, where each had lived for at least two decades. They had come to Austin because Nicole’s father was dying of cancer. They wanted to help.
“Our plan was to move here, take care of my dad and move back,” said Nicole Richard, 52, who is a licensed practical nurse by trade. “We figured we’d be here a year.”
Neither expected that shortly after Nicole's father died, she would have another loved one as a patient. This time Charles, 50, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
Charles Richard’s June diagnosis hit the couple’s attempts to distance themselves from their recent loss of her father and feel good about their growing comfort in Austin. The Richards had found a house to rent. Charles had a job with a local towing company: the first time to him that a job in the industry felt fair, where he could set some sort of schedule and where his boss responded, he said.
With Charles too weak to work and Nicole committed to providing him care, the Richards have gone without income since May and wiped through their savings, including what they had made on their Spokane house, where they lived together during their last 15 years in Washington. The couple has sold their car to keep up with payments. Family and friends have chipped in what they could. They have begun to receive federal disability payments, which help, but aren’t enough.
Nicole is determined to care for her husband for as long as he can fight off the cancer. She would like to focus exclusively on him. And, although she has begun to consider a return to work, she doesn’t know who would care for her husband and how much it would cost if she were to do so.
Organizer and beneficiary
Heather Anderson
Organizer
Austin, TX
Nicole Richard
Beneficiary