Tag: Mortgage

36 she was. she had

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She was volunteering.
She had a good social network.
She was getting married.
She was notified by letter:
she had scored zero points in her assesment
on the ninth of December.
A welfare rights officer informed her
her benefits would be reduced.
She became upset. She did not know how
she was going to pay her mortgage.
She took an overdose on New Year’s Eve.

[BBC News, 26/03/2014, Benefits assessment led to woman’s suicide says watchdog]

60 making it right

Posted on
Tests revealed
blood clots in both lungs.
2009. He was a landscape gardener
working for the Council
when he fell seriously ill.
He was discovered to have
deep vein thromboses
in his legs.
Hughes syndrome.
Often referred to as ‘sticky blood’.
A life-threatening condition.
His big toe was amputated.
Horrendous headaches,
frequent bouts of illness.
He couldn’t do any hard physical work.
He was put on something to thin his blood.
Would be on it
for the rest of his life.
Still
he hoped his condition would stabilise enough
to let him get a job
or go to college.
He had savings.
He and his fiancee
had just taken out a mortgage on a new flat;
he hoped to spend the money
making it right.
He had been signed off as unfit to work by his doctor,
but received no money from the agency
for 10 weeks.
An ongoing battle.
One morning
after she got up
his fiancee
discovered his body.

[Daily Record, 08/05/2013, Benefits row dad takes his own life and is found dead in his flat by his fiancee]