Couple moved to Austin to care for father dying of cancer. Now, husband has lung cancer.
When Nicole and Charles Richard moved to Austin four years ago, they didn’t expect to stay long. They didn’t expect to need help.
The couple had a house and a sense of community in Spokane, Washington, where each had lived for at least two decades. They had come to Austin because Nicole’s father was dying of cancer. They wanted to help.
“Our plan was to move here, take care of my dad and move back,” said Nicole Richard, 52, who is a licensed practical nurse by trade. “We figured we’d be here a year.”
Neither expected that shortly after Nicole's father died, she would have another loved one as a patient. This time Charles, 50, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
The Richard family is part of the Statesman Season for Caring program, which helps hundreds of families each year through local nonprofit organizations. Austin Palliative Care, which provides help for people with long-term illnesses, nominated the Richards to the program.
Charles Richard’s June diagnosis hit the couple’s attempts to distance themselves from their recent loss of her father and feel good about their growing comfort in Austin. The Richards had found a house to rent. Charles had a job with a local towing company: the first time to him that a job in the industry felt fair, where he could set some sort of schedule and where his boss responded, he said.
Read more: Austin husband with stage IV lung cancer goes through savings | Season for Caring
For most of June, Charles couldn’t walk after the biopsy. Joint and bone pain from the tumor kept him immobile. He left the hospital in a wheelchair and gradually moved to a walker.
He has since undergone three chemotherapy treatments in four months. After the third time, he had lost 55 pounds because he didn’t eat for eight days, he said. The extreme nausea, the stomach cramps and the prevailing taste of chemicals that covered his tongue made eating excruciating.
Caring for her husband has been the most difficult act of nursing Nicole has faced to date. Emotions are higher and the breaks don’t come as they normally would.
“You don’t get to go home and sleep,” Nicole said, in reference to that, unlike professional nursing jobs the wall between nurse and patient is gone.
With Charles too weak to work and Nicole committed to providing him care, the Richards have gone without income since May and wiped through their savings, including what they had made on their Spokane house, where they lived together during their last 15 years in Washington. The couple has sold their car to keep up with payments. Family and friends have chipped in what they could. They have begun to receive federal disability payments, which help, but aren’t enough.
Nicole is determined to care for her husband for as long as he can fight off the cancer. She would like to focus exclusively on him. And, although she has begun to consider a return to work, she doesn’t know who would care for her husband and how much it would cost if she were to do so.
Learn more: 12 families featured in the 25th Season for Caring program. Here's how you can help.
Equally uncertain is how she will confront what happens after Charles’ death. She has kept up with the professional development requirements for her Washington licensed practical nurse license and recently begun the process to secure the Texas equivalent. Yet, she admitted she’s nervous. She hasn’t had to make a résumé in a long time or to use online job boards.
The family needs help with rental assistance; gift cards for H-E-B and Walmart for groceries, medication and gas; legal help to explore bankruptcy options and estate planning; cremation services; employment training for Nicole, including help completing a résumé, online job hunting, or an aesthetician training program; and chiropractic services for Nicole’s back pain. Readers have helped with dog treats, sweatpants and a juicer through their Amazon wish list, but still more items remain.
To find out more about the Richard family or to give an item on their wish list, contact Austin Palliative Care, a subsidiary of Hospice Austin, 512-397-3360, option 3, austinpalliativecare.org.
About Season for Caring
The Statesman will be sharing the stories of all 12 Season for Caring families throughout the holiday season. Find more stories and information at statesman.com/seasonforcaring. You can donate online or use the coupon on Page 2B. Now through Dec. 25, all monetary donations will be matched up to $500,000 by the Sheth family. On Saturday, P. Terry's is donating all its profits to Season for Caring.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin nurse loses father to cancer. Now, husband has lung cancer
