Helen and Jimmy's Fight to Age in Place

For nearly half a century, Helen Hollingsworth has lived in her brick home in New Hanover County. She moved in 45 years ago, when her second child was born and the smaller house she and her husband, Jimmy, shared could no longer contain their growing family.

The house has seen storms, both literal and figurative. Two creeks run near the property, one large enough to wash out the road decades ago. After Hurricane Florence, a leak in the ceiling grew so severe Helen could no longer close the bathroom door. She patched it herself, a familiar role for a woman who had spent years making do when professional help was out of reach.

“I used to do all of the repairs,” she said. “My husband and I were in construction, but he got sick 20 years ago. I’ve been pretty good about maintaining it with the help of friends, but our friends have been passing away, and I can’t physically or financially do it anymore.”

Helen

A Life of Work and Care

Jimmy has battled colon cancer for two decades. The illness has returned twice, bringing with it surgeries, hospital stays, and long stretches of convalescence. Helen is his primary caregiver, moving him between the bed, the chair, and, on good days, the porch. Once a man who thrived on yardwork, Jimmy now watches the grass grow from a distance.

“His day is moving to the bed to the chair,” Helen said softly. “He might go out and sit on the porch, but he hates it because he used to love to work in the yard. I could tell last year that it was the last year he’d be able to manage it.”

The home is rich with memories. Helen recalls holidays when Jimmy strung so many Christmas lights across the roofline that neighbors joked their house looked like the airport. Family from Florida filled the rooms with laughter. The house, as Helen describes it, was always a gathering place.

Learning to Ask for Help

When Jimmy first got sick, Helen admits, asking for help was unthinkable. “My husband would have rather had a beating than ask for help because we always did for ourselves,” she said. “But now I do not find it hard at all. We found a lot of good people since my husband got sick.”

That openness led her to WARM NC’s Older Adult Home Modification Program (OAHMP). The timing was fortuitous. Jimmy had just come home from the hospital, and Helen herself was facing repairs she could no longer delay.

Accessibility Additions

Staff added a step to the bottom of her staircase, installed handrails on every set of stairs, built ramps at both the front and back doors, replaced faucets, added high-rise toilets, and mounted grab bars throughout the bathrooms.

“Made it easier to get around,” Helen said. “It’s a big help and I never could have afforded to do this. Everyone has been so nice, I couldn’t even find a complaint from anyone at WARM.”

The Meaning of Home

For Helen, aging safely in her home is not negotiable. “I don’t want to go to a nursing home, I don’t want my husband to have to go to a nursing home. I hope I can stay here.”

Still, worries linger. A 20-year-old air conditioning unit looms as her next concern. “I feel a lot less worry now, but if it wasn’t for y’all, I would have just had to put it off or made a temporary fix. I’ve made several temporary fixes. You do what you can do and that’s it.”

Asked what home means to her, Helen paused before answering. “My spot, my place,” she said. “Where you can control most of everything, hopefully.”

In that answer lies the heart of WARM NC’s mission: not just repairing houses, but preserving independence and the feeling of belonging. For Helen and Jimmy, their home is more than walls and a roof, it is the ground on which they built a life, and, with a little help, the place where they hope to remain.