Regaining control thanks to Salvos Moneycare
Moneycare counsellor Marika Goddard has helped Letitia to find financial freedom.
As Letitia’s husband John spent his last six months at home, aware he was dying of motor neuron disease, he would play her a special song every day – sometimes many times a day – to remind her of how much he was going to miss her.
For Letitia, it was bittersweet – a reminder of the love she and her husband had shared over their 41 years of marriage, through the good times and the tough times.
In some ways, Letitia says, it was almost a return to the many happy years they had shared up to the point that John had a serious work accident.
Marrying John when she was only 16, Letitia says: “It was very important to my husband that he could support us all. At one stage in Glenn Innes my husband was out of work, so he ended up picking up potatoes so we could survive. He wouldn’t go on the dole or ask for any help. We just lived on whatever we could, but they were happy times (with our two children)!”
John went on to work his way up in seniority in a number of coal mines, but then, Letitia explains: “John was working underground in a mine and the roof caved in on him. He got a payout which wasn’t very good. He lost his arm, hurt his back, crushed leg, crushed foot. He was never the same after that.
“He started drinking; then he got into a business trying to support us and we were losing a lot of money. He was trying to prove himself to provide for us, but we were just getting further in debt.”
The family sold their home, but there was another major setback when John was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Letitia, who has her own complex health issues, was by this stage on a disability pension, and intensively nursed John as his health deteriorated.
After multiple trips to doctors, John was also diagnosed with motor neuron disease in mid-2013 and passed away in November 2013.
“It was very hard,” Letitia says quietly of the enormity of the battles the family faced, and then the loss of her life partner.
At this point, however, Letitia’s problems continued to compound.
Letitia says: “My husband had a personal loan in both names, so I was responsible for it after he died. I could not afford it – $120 out of my pension to pay that every fortnight – I just couldn’t survive.”
Her sister in Gunnedah took her to the Salvos’ Hope House and Letitia was referred to Salvation Army Tamworth Moneycare counsellor Marika Goddard.
Letitia says: “Marika said ‘well we worked out your finances and after you pay everything off – loan and rent, you have $6 a fortnight to live on and that’s not good enough’. So she applied for the loan to be waived and rang me up and said ‘yes they’ve waived it’, which was absolutely wonderful!
“There was no judgment! I didn’t feel any shame. I broke down a couple of times, but it was very close to the time my husband had died.”
Now, proudly debt-free as she has been most of her life, Letitia has had counselling to deal with some of the pain and anxiety and now wants to volunteer to help others.
Thanking those who support The Salvation Army, Letitia says: “I think for anyone who can donate – donate, because you never know when you will need help yourself. No matter where you are, who you are and how much you plan, you don’t know what can come in life and we will all need someone to help us at some point, eventually.”
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