A life transformed
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by drewwilliams
27 days ago
under eldridge financial, eldridge latest news, retirement planning strategies, domestic partner planning, eldridge financial wealth preservation strategies
It was a socially awkward moment. Simon Eldridge was standing in a circle of friends at Christmas 2008 when someone made a funny remark. As he laughed, the contents of his mouth sprayed over the woman standing next to him.
Fortunately, it was only water, was easily dealt with and the party continued. But Eldridge stepped back in puzzled embarrassment. He didn’t know he was losing muscle power in his lips and that soon he would have difficulty holding them closed. Nor did he know this was an erratic early sign of an incurable disease that would put him in a wheelchair two years later. At the time, Eldridge seemed indestructible. He was 44 and in his prime. The financial markets were in a slump and, as managing director of Credit Suisse’s Australian equities sales trading, he had been staying in Sydney while his wife Sheila and their two sons took their annual break at the family’s holiday house in the Hunter Valley. He commuted on weekends. When Sheila called him at work, his voice was intermittently slurred and she inquired if he had been to lunch. He hadn’t. While she put it down to fatigue at the end of a tough year, he said it was odd and his tongue felt heavy. Gradually, other things began happening. At night, Simon’s left arm began to twitch and cramp. Was it the way he was lying? There were pins and needles in his hand. Thinking his wedding ring might be restricting blood flow, he took it off. As other symptoms developed, they went to their family doctor, who referred them to a neurologist. By now Sheila had been exploring Google and had narrowed Simon’s condition down to two possibilities; multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease (MND). She kept this to herself. In May 2009, when the neurologist said the situation was grave and they should get their affairs in order, Sheila went to water. She knew what was next but didn’t expect to hear that MND would disable Simon so quickly that he would be unable to work beyond Christmas. There was no cure and he would just grow weaker and weaker. » A life transformed |