Hot Cares Christmas – Emphysema Sufferer Gets Vital Invertor to Combat Loadshedding

Loadshedding has had such an enormous impact on all our lives, and we’re sure that just about everyone has a frustrating story.

That could be the traffic lights being out on your way to work, food going bad in a fridge without power, or a lack of juice for your laptop when you desperately need to complete some work.

But, most of those frustrating occurrences are not life-threatening.

Spare a thought, then, for pensioners Debbie and Dennis, whose story reached us via Brandon, the son-in-law of old friends of theirs.

“I have a very important Christmas wish for a family that really needs some kind of miracle,” he said. “It’s such a heart-breaking situation seeing the unfortunate position they are in, so I hope you are able to assist in some way. They are a kind-hearted family and are always helping others when they can’t help themselves, but now they are in a critical position.”

Dennis is suffering from severe Emphysema, which requires him to permanently be on oxygen, and without it he collapses into a fit, which at the moment seems to happen every couple of days, if you take into account just how regular loadshedding is at the moment.

Emphysema is a lung condition that causes shortness of breath and quite simply, if Dennis doesn’t get oxygen, his life is in danger, with family members sitting up all night in shifts to watch him, particularly if there are planned power outages.

As a result, Debbie and Dennis have been buying disposable oxygen tanks, which they can’t afford, as they are both unemployed and too old to get work. Debbie was a schoolteacher and has been out of work for a couple years now.

“They’ve never had a TV, which I was able to help out with, but that really is a drop in the ocean of what they really need and what they are going through,” said Brandon.

What Debbie and Dennis clearly need is a consistent source of power to ensure that Dennis gets the oxygen he needs.

Whilst Hot Cares can’t solve his Emphysema issue, we can certainly do what we can to solve his power issue and that means stumping up an invertor this Christmas to ensure that Dennis can use his oxygen machine during loadshedding, and he and Debbie can also have a bit of light, charge their cellphones etc.

On top of that, as Debbie is a retired schoolteacher and the couple have little in the way of income, Hot Cares will be gifting them a brand-new laptop, so that Debbie is able to offer online tutoring and they can get at least some money coming in to cover their basic expenses.

Here at Hot Cares, we hope those small gestures go some way to making Christmas a little more enjoyable for Debbie and Dennis this festive season.