Kimberley Rae Dickieson
Submitted
I am a white woman born into a middle-class family. My parents were in good relationship with all of their siblings and parents. The support I felt growing up from my extended family was strong and healthy. I knew I had people… people who also knew they had people.
I got married young and had kids right away. My husband worked outside the home, and I worked in the home. We had four kids which meant that buying a house made way more sense than renting a house. Now, we lived paycheck to paycheck, struggling to making ends meet. Saving up for a downpayment would’ve taken years. So, my parents decided to do the same thing that my grandparents did for them… they loaned us a down payment. We bought our first home and by the time we went to sell it, the market had improved significantly so we were able to pay the money back to my parents and still have a large downpayment for our next home.
Now, why am I telling you this, you may ask. I am telling you this because it is the reason I am not living on the streets right now, without a home and without money for my basic necessities.
Just over two years ago, I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. It is a blood cancer that cannot be cured, only managed. One year before this diagnosis, I was fired from my job of ten years (without warning and without cause), and a year before that I found myself having to leave my marriage. I was living in my friend’s basement suite and working on finding a new permanent job when I was diagnosed. When I found the first tumour, I had just finished my training shifts at my new job and had to quit before I even got started because the shifts were long and required physical capabilities. I was in a lot of pain and was quite tired… not to mention I had to start weekly chemo treatments almost immediately and I had no idea what to expect with chemo.
So, there I was, with no health benefits, no disability benefits and no income because I didn’t have a job. I went on EI disability for the number of weeks I was allotted and then applied for CPP disability benefits. If any of you have lived on CPP disability, you’ll know that it doesn’t amount to much. It wasn’t enough for me to live on… pay my rent and utilities, buy food, pay for gas to go to appointments which were in Saskatoon, and pay for prescriptions.
It is only because of the support of my friends and family that I was able to get through that first year of treatment. I would’ve been out on the streets, unable to pay rent and unable to feed myself.
Sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking that we are so far from being without a home and without our basic needs being met, but the reality is that without the support systems we have in place and without the privilege that comes from those support systems (often financial), we could find ourselves without the basic necessities of life.
So, the next time you feel the urge to judge people for the circumstances they find themselves in, often circumstances they didn’t choose, take a moment and remind yourself that it could be you.
Kimberley Rae Dickieson is a 46 year old mother of four adult children who has lived, worked and raised her family in PA for the past 22 years. She loves gardening, reading and writing and has recently taken up yoga. Kim has a Bachelor’s degree in counselling and leadership, and desires to advocate for those who don’t have a voice.
