03/03/2026
Request for Support – Help Howard Come Home
Dear friends,
I am writing to ask for your support with something deeply personal and profoundly important to my family. I am not a person who seeks support, but this is a situation no family should have to face alone.
My brother‑in‑law, Howard, had a catastrophic accident in 2025, just three weeks after turning 65. The accident left him a quadriplegic. This is a man who spent his life active and healthy — a marathon runner, a regular golfer, someone who walked every day to stay fit. Overnight, everything changed.
Because Howard had turned 65 only weeks before the accident, he is not eligible for NDIS assistance. This single technicality has left him with almost no viable options. Aged care is not an appropriate environment for a 65‑year‑old who wants to live at home, surrounded by his family, with dignity and proper support. Howard wants to come home. My sister, Howard’s wife, wants him home. But the cost of the essential daily care he now requires — simply to get out of bed, shower, dress, and return to bed safely each night — is estimated at around $200,000 per year.
Howard and Lorraine worked diligently throughout their lives, contributing significantly to the economy and society and ensuring they had sufficient savings for a comfortable retirement. Neither of them could have imagined that such a catastrophic accident would occur, only to discover that the government support available falls so far short of meeting even a quarter of Howard’s basic care needs. In contrast, individuals under the age of 65 with similar injuries receive full NDIS benefits, including daily care, housing assistance, and medical expenses. This stark disparity has left our family devastated and questioning how such an inequitable situation can exist.
We are seeking support to help bring attention to this issue and to advocate for fair and compassionate consideration of cases like Howard’s. A petition has been created to request a review of the age‑based eligibility rules so that people who experience life‑altering injuries later in life are not left without adequate support. We are not asking for money. We are simply asking for a signature on a petition.
If you are willing, please click on this link and consider sharing the petition with friends and family. The petition closes on 11 March – so time is of the utmost urgency. You can access the petition at the following link
https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN9311
Your support would mean more to our family than we can express.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for standing with us.
Warm regards,
Scott Rahilly