Michele Campbell just wants to be independent.
But the 50-year-old Brantford woman, whose recent health issues require her to use a wheelchair, has been unable to find accessible housing she can afford for herself and her two teenage children.
Until the end of July, Campbell had been working for 26 years with learning disabled and blind/deaf-blind students at various provincial schools, with an office based at W. Ross Macdonald School.
She was an active single mother of a 14-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter who volunteered at the Legion and as a referee for goalball, a team sport designed for athletes with a visual impairment.
Campbell isn’t a stranger to health problems. She was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at 15. Her wrists are fused and she’s had the tendons in her fingers cut to help with mobility. She’s had multiple surgeries on her right knee.
“It never affected my job or raising my kids,” she said.
But on July 25, Campbell had knee cap surgery at Brantford General Hospital. It was a success and she was climbing stairs within a couple days.
Goal on Aug. 1, Campbell developed a high fever. She was rushed to hospital where it was determined she had necrotizing fascilitis (flesh-eating disease), an infection caused by bacteria, in her right arm.
“They asked me if I wanted them to do anything and everything to stay alive,” said Campbell. “I said yes, and blacked out.”
During the battle to save her life, Campbell had several surgeries on her arm and says she technically died three times during her six-week ICU stay. She was in a medically-induced coma for three weeks.
Allowed to leave the hospital after nine weeks, Campbell was unable to return to her rent-controlled townhouse on Dunsdon Street, which has stairs leading to all levels.
“The wheelchair doesn’t fit in the bathroom,” she said.
Campbell’s knee was left resting on her femur and she underwent another surgery about a week ago.
“She is having a difficult recovery and is on bed rest,” said Campbell’s sister Melissa Cheeseman, who has taken Campbell and her children into her Paris home.
But it’s not ideal. Campbell has taken over the master bedroom from her sister and brother-in-law who also have three adult children and a grandson living there.
Campbell has been searching for accessible housing (a three-bedroom unit) she can afford without success.
Mary Musson, the city’s director of housing and homelessness, said the Housing Resource Center (hrcbrantford.org) provides support to all citizens, regardless of income, to find suitable housing. A list of affordable rental housing can be found on the Brantford.ca website.
Campbell said she applied for rent-geared-to-income housing but earns slightly too much to qualify. Because she isn’t a homeowner, she doesn’t qualify for financial assistance to renovate her rented home. Cheeseman said Campbell also is on a list for an accessible unit in Brantford but was told the wait is long. Campbell continues to investigate other programs that could help her.
“I’m trying to be self-sufficient but I now realize how difficult it is for our independent disabled community to live and support themselves,” she said.
Campbell said she doesn’t want to go on the Ontario Disability Support Program and hopes to return to work in early January.
“I love my job. I’m hoping I’ll be up and going again but I’m certainly not an easy case.”