The tragedy of a Hungarian widower: raising his son alone while being sick himself

Losing your wife, the mother of your son, is an incredibly difficult tragedy to handle on its own, but raising your son alone while being sick is even harder. László lost his wife to leukaemia, and now he needs to spend 6 months in hospital due to being sick himself. He and his 3-year-old son are left alone and in need of help.

Femina visited László and his son, Nimród, to learn about their story. Even in this difficult situation, Laci keeps on smiling and joking about his heavy breathing, saying his Covid-19 test has just come back negative. Their kitchen does not give the impression of that of a single-parent family. There is a picture of his late wife on the wall, old but loving messages on the fridge, together with photos of the whole family. A happy mother smiling back. 

Katalin had waited 14 years to become a mother.

Doctors told them they would never be able to have kids. Nimród was only 4 months old when she was diagnosed with leukaemia. She did not live to see his son turn 2.

“She had been in the hospital for 10 months during which time she spent 8 days at home,” Laci starts telling their story. He raised their son alone while visiting his wife regularly. Laci lost his job and got into the public work program while getting a sterilised room ready for Katalin who had just received a bone-marrow transplant. The whole community of their village helped them, even by raising money for the family. 

“This was not even the hardest part. But to forbid a mother to hug his child for 100 days! Can you imagine that?!”

he said.

I do not think anyone can.

During these trying times, another tragedy hit the father. His parents passed away while they were fighting for Katalin’s life. Unfortunately, his mother could not see the day of his grandson’s birth. To make matters worse, Laci faced further problems. He has to carry the weight of the loans taken out by his late parents on the old house where he grew up.

They had to keep fighting for Katalin who did not feel the strength to go through another set of treatments, so she decided to spend her last days with her loving husband and son.

“He certainly felt something was not right, that his mother was sick. He was very quiet and hugged her so tenderly, like he was trying to help in this way,” said Laci about his son.

Father and son were left all alone. Laci successfully applied for a job and started to work while Nimród was sent to kindergarten. It was tough, but they believed life was not going to get even harder. They were wrong. One day, after feeling sick for several weeks, Laci suddenly collapsed in his kitchen. Tests run on him showed he had an aneurism and an autoimmune disease.

“The aneurism requires an operation, but it was delayed because of the virus situation, together with some further neurological and other types of tests. In order to give me the appropriate medication and treatment, more tests need to be run.”

As soon as the pandemic allows it, he has to go to the hospital for 6 months. He has been relocated in his job since there are some tasks he cannot do anymore. With an aneurism in the brain, it is possible to live 100 years, but even a little cough or lifting a heavier bag can be lethal. His symptoms are caused by the autoimmune disease.

“It attacks the nervous system, but my sight has been failing as well. Often, the whole left side of my body becomes numb to the point where I can barely walk. I have memory problems and difficulties breathing. Sometimes, it gets better, other times, it is worse. I have alerted everyone I could,” he adds, referring to his son who will be taken care of by godparents and step-grandparents.

He reassures us by saying that he has everything: he receives his salary, the loans on the house will be paid back one day, they have a roof over their heads, he can feed his son and occasionally give him some sweet treats as well. He looks at the picture hanging on the wall and says:

“What I want cannot come true. I want my wife. I want my son to get his mother back. I want her to see her son grow up. The rest… we will figure that out. I hold on to what my wife always used to say: ‘The most important thing is to live through another day’.”

If you have the means and want to help Laszlo and his son, below you can find every detail to give some financial help to cover medical bills, the stay in the hospital, medications, and the expenses to provide for Nimród for the time being.

Bank account number of the Foundation for Feeding Kids: 12010659-01635200-00100000
Bank: Raiffeisen Bank
IBAN: HU96-12010659-01635200-00100000
SWIFT: UBRT HUHB
Please add Juhász László megsegítésére to the message field.

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Source: femina.hu