Dick's Story - McEwan

The five months Dick spent at McEwan House turned out to be the last five months of his life, but they were also the happiest, most secure few months he’d had in years.

Dick was 42 years old when he came to McEwan House.  He had been a manic depressive for 20 years.  He also drank from morning till night and abused prescription drugs.  He had had the AIDS virus for years, but had been asymptomatic until the last year when the disease began ravaging his body.

When his health came apart, he came down with PCP pneumonia.  At the end of a two-month hospital stay, during which he nearly died, he was sent to McEwan House for supportive housing.

It wasn’t that easy for Dick to make the adjustment.  For a while he continued to drink heavily, but it began to really bother him that his own indulgences were putting other residents with abuse problems at risk of falling off the wagon.

With the loving perseverance of his family, friends and counsellors, Dick began to use Antabuse for the alcohol and Lithium for his depression, and finally began to regain control of his life.  The staff had the pleasure of watching the emergence of the gentle, articulate man who had been hidden by his condition.

The support and respect given to him by the staff meant a lot to Dick.  “you say: ‘I’d like to see you’, and no matter who’s on, they come right over…It’s very good because you have to talk.  I can’t imagine having this disease, living alone and having nobody to talk to.  It’d drive you crazy, all the pressure.  It’s such a stressful deal anyway that you need the valves, and that’s where they’re very good, 24 hours a day!”

The battle to regain control of his life wasn’t easy, but in the end Dick was happy and excited by what he was achieving.  When he died, it was in McEwan House, surrounded by the staff who had helped him come so far in so short a time.

< GO BACK TO WHAT DOES YOUR MONEY DO