Staffordshire
Health and wellbeing, Mental health, Support for Freemasons and families
Mark’s story
When Mark’s health took a decline, his life was turned upside down and he struggled to get the help he needed. After leaving the hospital, Mark had been unable to receive aftercare at home when his details was misplaced. This meant that Mark’s wife, Amanda, had to undertake all of his care.
Mark became completely dependent on his family, he was living in a dining room at his wife’s parents’ home in Staffordshire. “It was an extremely degrading time, I spent all my time staring at the ceiling day after day. I had a wet room on the same level and had to be washed and dressed by Amanda,” said Mark.
This started to take a toll on Mark’s family, his wife suffered a breakdown and his youngest daughter had tried to take her own life. Feeling like a burden on his family, Mark’s own mental health took a steep decline.
One morning Amanda handed Mark his post as usual, but this time it included a Masonic magazine, and more importantly, a Masonic Samaritans card. Feeling like all hope was gone, Mark decided he had nothing to lose and phoned the number. Following the call, a PGA went and visited Mark right away.
He was very nice and understanding, talking through lots of options. Many of them were then implemented and helped immensely. Since that day we’ve kept in touch, and nine and a half years later he is one of our family’s closest friends.
We were also able to help Mark with the cost of his medical equipment, and with funding his children’s education to help get his family’s lives back on track.
It took me to be at my lowest point before I decided to reach out. I realise now how important it is to ask for help. It’s not an embarrassment, and it’s not being weak. If it wasn’t for the MCF and the Masonic Samaritans, I would not be here today. I can’t put into words right now how much my family’s lives and mine have been helped. The MCF is a wonderful organisation, of which we are so proud to be a part of.
If you are in need of mental health support, you can contact our enquiries team help@mcf.org.uk or call them on 0800 035 60 90.
