Hello. My name is Terry.
First, let me take a moment to thank you for viewing my request. I appreciate you taking the time to consider helping me. I have never been one to ask for help, especially financially, but I have nowhere else to turn.
Let me tell you my story. I apologize in advance for the length of it but I want you to know exactly how things are since I am asking for your financial help.
I’m 66 years old and, like most people my age nowadays, I can’t afford to retire so I’m working full-time, living paycheck to paycheck.
Several years ago I was hit by a car while crossing the street. The impact sent me through the air to the other side of the street. The only thing I remember is suddenly being on my back on the other side of the street. The paramedics said if I had been 2 inches further I would have hit the curb and broken my back. As it was, I had a haematoma in my right leg and a permanent injury to my lower back.
In 2020, the job I had aggravated that injury to the point where I could no longer work. I went on medical employment insurance and my doctor said I may not be able to work again.
That same year, in November, my wife got sick and had to stop working. Her feet swelled up so bad, and she was in so much pain, that she could not walk. I was able to borrow a walker with a seat to push her to the bathroom and back. Doing that seemed to help my back and I was able to function better. However, my wife, misdiagnosed by our family doctor, did not get better. After a visit to Emergency, the doctor on call was able to find the problem. They flew her to a hospital 4 1/2 hours away. This was during COVID so I wasn’t allowed to go with her.
She went there on Sunday and died Tuesday night from complications. A blood clot (the real cause of her illness) moved to her lungs. Her blood pressure had dropped too low to perform surgery and, by the time that it improved, the clot had reached her lung and she was gone. The nurse was talking to me on the phone at the time. She said they had been trying to revive her for half an hour. She died 2 months after our 25th wedding anniversary.
I was in shock. I felt like my heart had been ripped out, like my life was over. The woman I had spent the last 25 years with was no longer there. For the first time in a long time, I was alone.
I went into a deep depression. My friends tried to help by bringing me meals but I couldn’t imagine life without her. I thought about ending it but couldn’t bring myself to do that so I somehow carried on.
However, my income was now less than half of what it was before and I was still on medical employment insurance. I asked my landlord for a reduction in rent so I could stay in the apartment. It is the cheapest place in town. They gave me a $50 reduction.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t pay my creditors. I called them all and tried to work with them, asking for 2-3 months to get back on my feet, but they just wanted their money. So, I had no choice but to file a Consumer Proposal to stop them from harassing me. My car loan didn’t want to go that route, though, so they repossessed my car, leaving me with no transportation.
In March of 2021 I got COVID. It was the worst sickness I had ever had. It lasted 2 long weeks and there were 3 days where I actually thought I was going to die. It was that bad. To make things worse, I was now alone in my apartment.
In September I finally got a job. I worked there for 1 week and had a heart attack. They flew me to a city 8 hours away and put 5 stents in my heart. My employer was nice enough to hold my job for me but I could only have 2 weeks off. My cardiologist said I should take 2 months but I couldn’t afford to do that.
For the next several months I was a zombie. I had no energy, couldn’t think straight, and wondered why I didn’t end things when my wife died. Again, I went into depression.
I went onto some pen pal sites because I felt I needed someone to talk to. I helped a few people with their English skills because I like helping people and that distracted me a little from the pain of no longer having my wife, but it was only a temporary solution.
Then I met Victoria. I wasn’t looking for another relationship, not after losing my wife of 25 years. But Victoria was sweet, kind, and extremely understanding. We messaged, emailed, exchanged photos, and talked on the phone, and discovered that we had much in common. Our view of life, of relationships, of how marriage mates should treat each other, was in complete harmony.
I never expected to find someone after losing my beloved wife but I fell in love with Victoria. She was from a foreign country but her English was quite good. She told me about her life and I told her about mine.
I made my situation clear from the very beginning: I had no savings, no house, no assets, and would not be able to help her with a visa. She didn’t care about any of that. She was just looking for someone who would love her from the heart, be honest with her, faithful to her, so we could spend the rest of our lives together.
Victoria has made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. I still miss my wife. That will never change. And, of course, I still love her. That will never change, either. But now I have a chance to be happy again, to share my life with someone again. Victoria has said that she wants me to give my deceased wife the biggest place in my heart. How many women are that understanding and caring?
So now we would like to get married. She has been trying to get a visa to visit me but with the backlog of applications since COVID it hasn’t materialized yet. However, I did manage to get a visa to go to her country and the plan is to be with her at the end of August of this year.
I have calculated the expenses that I need to maintain things here while I visit her, along with the travel cost, and have been saving as much as possible. But I am coming up short. She is willing to pay for the wedding (it will be a civil ceremony with a small celebration with her family) but I need to get there and maintain things here so we have a place to come back to once we’re married.
I have calculated that I will about be $2,194 short. Without this money I will not be able to make it.
If you can help in any way, even a small donation, I would be forever grateful.
I have been given a second chance at love, something not everyone gets. I just need a little help to get there.
Thank you for reading my story. I hope your life has as much happiness as Victoria has brought to mine.
Sincerely,
Terry