A WHEELCHAIR-bound young mum and her husband are pleading with the City Council this week to save their sanity - and their marriage - by getting them out of their severely cramped living accommodation. Helen Kavanagh (27) and husband Ken (25) said their situation is now ?desperate?
and they urgently need to get out of the small one-bedroom apartment at the Cheshire Homes facility on John?s Hill before their second child is born in January. ?
I can?t take it anymore, this whole situation is causing us so much stress,? Helen, who has suffered from Spina Bifida since birth, told the Waterford News Star this week.
?I can?t even get my wheelchair into the bedroom it?
s so cramped. I?ve been sleeping on a fold-up bed in the living area for the past six months and it?
s killing my back. ?It?
s nobody?s fault that we?re living like this but we just need to be moved and I can?
t emphasise that enough. It?s putting an awful strain on our lives and our marriage and I?
d just urge the City Council to please try and do something for us by the New Year.? Helen, who is originally from Mount Sion Avenue, and Ken who is from Grange Park, were married last year and have a 10-month old son David as well as another child on the way.
Helen has been living in one of the self-contained apartments at Waterford Cheshire for four years at this stage while Ken moved in with her back in December 2004. The couple say, however, that it?s really since their son was born that their apartment has become so cramped and they ?
cannot bear? the thought of four of them living in the same small space come the end of January.?
It?s terrible, we have no comfort at all,? says Ken.
?I?m sleeping in the one bedroom with the child and we?
re surrounded by the child?s stuff and our furniture, Helen can?t even get in the door with her wheelchair.
? Young mother Helen, who is on disability, says that their current situation is ideal for nobody. They have difficulty getting David to sleep at night because of noise from nearby apartments but she says it?
s unfair too that the couple?s neighbours in Waterford Cheshire, some of whom are quite ill, are disturbed by David - the only child in the complex - crying. ?
It?s been acknowledged by management up there that the apartment is just not suitable for us anymore and I think the City Council would acknowledge that too? says Helen.
?We?ve been told on a number of occasions that other places were available for us, including in Military Barracks, Ferrybank and Ballytruckle, but for various reasons it?
s always fallen through.? ?
I would take any three-bedroom place really, all I want is a decent quality of life for myself and my family.? Helen was on the City Council housing list previously but was taken off when a place at Waterford Cheshire became available for her in 2002.
The couple have been back on the list for the past year but, by their own accounts, are getting more and more desperate. ?I?
d just ask the Council to please help us,? said Helen. ?
It?s affecting our stress levels and it?s also putting pressure on our marriage.
We really need this to be sorted by January because I just can?t cope with another baby in the tiny and unsuitable space we?re currently having to make do with.
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