Wife appeals for vital funds

A LOVING wife is desperate to find £4,000 for vital equipment to help her seriously ill husband.

Wrotham couple Janet and Bob Higgins are borrowing a "cough assist" machine free of charge, but could lose it at any moment.

Mrs Higgins, 63, said: "Bob has motor neurone disease and can't cough at all, so the machine has made an amazing difference. It's absolutely wonderful."

The equipment, on loan from Philips Respironics, removes secretions from the lungs, reducing the risk of respiratory infections.

"We borrowed it around Christmas for three months, but they phoned the other day to say they were coming to take it away," said Mrs Higgins

"I said they couldn't take it because Bill would end up in hospital with pneumonia."

The West Street couple do not have the £4,000 needed to buy their own machine, or £380 a month to rent it.

Mrs Higgins has even written to millionaire businessman Richard Branson about her plight – but received no reply.

Her husband was diagnosed with the crippling condition in 2006 and is now virtually unable to move. She hopes a local charity will hear her plea for help.

"He can't do anything for himself," she said. "We have carers in four times a day, but it is ever so hard to get the things we need. You just don't realise how hard it is until something like this happens."

Mr Higgins, 66, a former security guard who has lived in the village all his life, said: "Now I am just moved from my bed, to the shower, to a chair.

"The cough assist is a marvellous machine and it has really helped me."

He admitted he did not know how he would cope without it.

Mrs Higgins said: "Apparently, in America, they give them to people who just have colds."

Mr Higgins attends the Heart of Kent Hospice in Aylesford on a Wednesday and Crossroads Care visits on a Thursday to give his wife extra respite.

The couple rely on the help of their three children, Dawn Wicks, who lives in Thomas Wyatt Way; Philip, who lives in Old London Road; and Jane Tapsell, of Sundridge.

If you can help, call 01732 885035.