Maggie is thankful for pro-active practical support from family, neighbours, and even a friend thousands of kilometres away.

Transcript

So, I think I mentioned I can’t drive so my son is my taxi driver when I need to go to appointments or anything. So something as simple as going to the doctor or going to get my bloodwork, you know, I live in a rural area so I need to drive, there’s no other way. So, getting support with that, getting support around meals which again sounds silly, but I really just literally can’t cook … I’m relatively new to this neighborhood, but have had neighbors who, you know, have cut my grass, who shovel the snow now that it’s started. Just recognizing that, you know, and have done it happily. So having those kinds of – I wouldn’t call it unquestioning support, you know, kind of the support that I’ve asked for or that they’ve gleaned that I need without questioning or without making me feel, I already feel like I’m dependent, so anything that exacerbates that feeling of, “Oh my gosh, now she wants me to do this” is really difficult.

So, a caregiver who I know very well and have become very good friends with over the last couple of years, who lives in BC, so nowhere near me, knew that all this was going on and, and you know that I was worried about my mom, and you know, things were really tough. 

And what she did was she found a local it’s like a restaurant/grocery store and got them to deliver meals to me once a week for many weeks. That level of unquestioning peer support and just saying I will do anything you need, but in the meantime, let’s make sure you’re eating and your mom’s eating, was you know, that practical support, was so helpful. And she knew, she didn’t have to ask.

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