Four years ago, Joe was diagnosed with kidney disease meaning he had to give up full-time work while he spent much of his time in hospital. Until his illness, he’d loved his work as a truck driver and his favourite pastimes were fishing and being with his family.
“These were hard times for me. It was difficult, especially with the sudden change in my health. I came from having a good lifestyle to hitting rock bottom. Going onto dialysis happened with no warning signs.”
Joe’s life became one of frequent hospital visits where he was hooked up to a dialysis machine for hours at a time. While some patients can undergo their dialysis at home, this wasn’t possible for Joe because of the size of the machine and the need to have someone to oversee the procedure. Then someone recommended he contact Visionwest.
“Having been put in touch with Visionwest, I received a visit from Jonas [Visionwest Support Navigator]. He was wonderful and listened to my needs. To be honest, though, I’d had so many promises from other groups. I thought nothing would happen, but I had nothing to lose so I went along with it.”
Like many people who have a sudden change to their life circumstances, Joe admits to struggling to adjust. The cost travel to and from hospital was financially crippling so Joe applied to be accepted for home dialysis. With that in mind, Joe’s daughter Sarina trained to become a qualified nurse and later moved in with Joe to oversee his treatment.
Joe’s next challenge was that the large dialysis machine meant there was no room for family to visit – something Joe found important. Visionwest Community Housing Team stepped in and found a suitable house.
“Visionwest really went out of their way to help me. I love the space in my new home, but they did so much more than that. Money was pretty tight, and they helped me with food and budgeting. That helped me manage my money better and that’s made a big difference.”
“Without help from Visionwest I’d be struggling like a lot of people out there. That’s why I always promote Visionwest to people, because of what you’ve done for me. I can’t imagine where I’d be without that help. I just want to enjoy my grandkids and my kids. With Visionwest’s help I can.