Sheni and her husband had always been self-employed. In just a few weeks, they lost all their income.

Transcript

He was at the rehab centre for close to a year, and by the time he was ready to get out I, well actually let me just step back a bit. He had been unemployed. We were both self-employed and so we didn’t have any kind of benefits to fall back on. So when this happened to him, he went from having income to having—like a fairly decent income—to having no income at all. And then 2 weeks before the second incident, I lost my contract job. So, we went from having a really high family income to having zero income and zero benefits. No long, no long-term disability benefits, no unemployment, nothing to fall back on, and so that was a really, really—another stressor that was added onto all of this.

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• Trying to find the right balance – Sheni
  When her husband was in the hospital, Sheni did all she could to help her children through this period.
• Support from family and friends – Sheni
  Sheni’s family-in-law did not offer any help. In fact, they made it harder for her.
• Social impact and lifestyle changes – Sheni
  Sheni notices that she has a lot less tolerance for other people’s minor problems and this has affected her friendships.
• Legal issues – Sheni
  Sheni’s power of attorney was revoked after her sister-in-law contacted the Public Guardian. Sheni thinks it is important to read up on the rules of power of attorney to avoid any issues.
• Interaction with professionals – Sheni
  Sheni describes two occasions where she had a disagreement with the doctors.
• Financial impact – Sheni
  Sheni and her husband had always been self-employed. In just a few weeks, they lost all their income.
• Impact on professional life and career 2 – Sheni
  When her son started radiation therapy for his brain tumour, Sheni had to take time off work. Unfortunately, her manager was not very understanding.
• Impact on professional life and career – Sheni
  It is difficult to work while caring for someone at home. Sheni dealt with situations that she felt most people never have to deal with.
• Home care and live-in caregivers – Sheni
  Sheni found the live-in caregiver very helpful, especially since she could check-in with him at home during the day.
• Health system issues – Sheni
  For Sheni, it was impossible to work and find care for her husband.