Last summer, Mark Howie, 38 from Newcastle his wife Dawn, 35, and their three children were eagerly looking forward to the arrival of their new baby.
Mark was working long hours to provide income for his family and Dawn was on maternity leave from a local children’s nursery, where she hoped to return to work after the baby was born.
Their world was thrown into chaos when their daughter Eryn was born with no kidney function. Eryn would need dialysis to live until she was old enough to be able to have a kidney transplant and Dawn stayed at the hospital with her until she was well enough to return home. A further health scare came shortly after when she had to go back into hospital with peritonitis which interfered with her dialysis.
With Dawn at the hospital, and three other young children to care for, Mark was struggling with the 14 hour days he was working and knew he needed to be with his family. When he was offered a job with the British Heart Foundation, he was grateful for the shorter hours so he could support his family, even though he knew he could not expect the salary he had been on previously.
Eryn’s life-threatening condition meant that she had to have a constant temperature in her room at home. As the colder winter months approached Mark was struggling with bills that he had previously been able to manage, and he was also having problems with his central heating system. He contacted the Energy Saving Trust for advice and they referred him to Five Lamp’s Energy Debt Advice team.
Gary Holroyd, Five Lamps’ Energy Debt Advisor, gave Mark advice on managing on his reduced income and applied for a grant to the British Gas Energy Trust to clear his outstanding gas and electricity bills.
He was also able to apply to British Gas Energy Trust for a further assistance payment for half the cost of replacing Mark’s new heating system, the remainder being met by a grant from Newcastle Council’s ‘Health Through Warmth’ Project.
Mark and Dawn were provided a grant of £644 from the British Gas Energy Trust and were also awarded £900.00 towards the cost of his boiler. Mark said
“I can’t thank Five Lamps enough for their support. We can now concentrate on Eryn’s continuing improvement, without having the worry of paying for heating repairs or outstanding fuel bills hanging over us”