Norbert Rug, a 69-year-old Lockport resident and Vietnam veteran, is reaching out to the community for help with funding for a medically necessary addition to his home.
Rug suffers from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stage 4 cancer, and arthritis. A recent battle with pneumonia put him in the hospital for five days and made him realize he may have to leave his home where he and his wife have raised a family throughout the years.
“It’s becoming difficult to live in my family home of 41 years where the only bathroom and the bedrooms are up a flight of 16 stairs from the main living area,” said Rug.
The only way to stay living in his home would be to add an addition to the first floor, but this could prove costly. It’s already cost Rug $1,500 just for the planning stages and he and his wife are both retired and live off a limited income. Rug’s cousin-in-law, Ann Furlong, has created a GoFundMe page to help Rug with the expense of adding an addition.
“Many times he stays upstairs so he doesn’t have to climb the stairs,” said Furlong. “Plan ‘B’ is to put a small bedroom and bathroom off the back of their house. A project of this magnitude will require quite a bit of capital but not as much as buying a new home and moving. Any help you can provide will be appreciated,” she said.
If you would like to make a donation to help Rug, visit www.gofundme.com/medically-necessary-addition.
