My life was normal before. I had a job. I’m in engineering, I’m a CNC operator and programmer. I was working, and then, because of my health, I had to terminate my employment. And then I had no other way of paying rent, but I managed to stay for about six months, not working, but the rent was too high for me. I ran out of money.

I was renting a three-bedroom house, that’s where my children grew up. But now they have all moved away, because I had also gone through a divorce, it was just me now. I was not working, I couldn’t pay the rent, my health was really going down, I couldn’t manage.

So, I went to a friend in Chichester. It was someone I knew from a long time ago. Sometimes I was going there, sometimes I was sleeping in the car. I applied for a council house. The council was telling me I’m not a priority, I’m on my own, and by then my health started really deteriorating. I had some kidney issues that was known by my GP when it was too late. They tested because my feet were getting swollen. I thought they were swelling because of the safety issues at work, I was in an industry where I used savage shoes, only to find it was something else, kidney issues.

I pushed and pushed the council and that’s when they introduced me to Turning Tides.  I came to Roffey Place through the council. So, from Roffey, I started the tests for my kidneys. Always up and down to appointments at the hospital. Almost all my appointments, when I was here, we’re done through Turning Tides, sometimes they provided transport for me to go to the hospital.

I am a normal human being, if there’s work there, then I can work. I did an assessment and Turning Tides helped me move from Roffey to another Turning Tides accommodation service, Spooners, a low support move-on housing project. And at Spooners, they helped me push my own accommodation forward. I was doing dialysis and then Spooners and dialysis. I needed a place where I can do dialysis from home. So, Turning Tides helped me, and they worked with the council to get me accommodation.

Then end of last year, that’s when they offered me a place, through a housing agent, and it was Turning Tides that helped me move.

I didn’t have a spoon, I didn’t have clothes, I didn’t have a bed, I didn’t have utensils, that’s where really I got a lot of help. Turning Tides helped me by giving me a 4-plate stove, a fridge freezer, a washing machine, a bed and other small things. So, on the first day, moving to this new flat, my flat had almost everything to use to start a life.

I was also applying for a mobility car. It’s not an easy process, you can call them, you can wait for an hour before they even talk to you. It was Lee who helped me. On my own, I don’t think I was going to manage. Everything I have is due to Turning Tides. Now, it’s easy for me, with a car, I can go for my dialysis.

My life at the moment is actually back to normal.

It is only my kidney problems still on-going because I’m doing dialysis, but I’m on the kidney transplant list now. But my life is normal. I’m living a normal life like anyone else.

The help I got from Turning Tides was really big. You know a lot of people were involved for me to secure my accommodation. I went through a lot to be honest, but it’s good if you get support. On your own without support, you know. Some help might be there, but you don’t know. That’s the way places like, Turning Tides come in.

There are many people in my situation out there, plenty, but people don’t know where to get help. You will struggle like me when I didn’t know about Turning Tides. More people need to know about Turning Tides.