Robert “Bobby” Aitken has been living in Noosa for 62 years, but now the pensioner is preparing to make an unimaginable sacrifice.
At 79-years-old the former surfer is set to move out of the home he shares with his beloved wife, Gail, and into his car.
His wife has failing eyesight, and is set to go into a nursing home after suffering a series of falls.
The couple have been together for almost 30 years. When asked how he felt about living apart he told A Current Affair: “I don’t think it’s right. For me, I’d rather have her here until she’s in a wheelchair before I thought of anything like that.”
Without her by his side, Robert cannot afford the rent on their townhouse, and needs to move out so they can afford Gail’s care. However, finding a different place has been difficult even with his pension and four-hour-week mowing job.
“We do have to rob Peter to pay Paul many, many times, and it’s hard,” Gail said.
Robert decided that sleeping in his car was better than leaving his hometown and put up a handwritten note in the main street of town, offering to trade his Subaru for a small van he could live in.
“Something that’s roadworthy, something that’s registered, something I can afford, that’s all I want,” Robert said.
The note was shared online and local woman Fiona, a complete stranger to the couple, took matters into her own hands and started a fundraiser.
On the GoFundMe page, Fiona explained that Robert has had more than 100 jobs in the town and has been actively shaping the local community.
“For a number of years, he was involved with the Noosa Coastguard,” she wrote on the fundraising page.
“Over a period of sixty years, Bobby has made friends with and met a wide range of local characters. He has been involved in youthful high jinks, suffered tragic events, and witnessed some unexplainable phenomena.”
The community has since raised almost $22,000 of the $26,000 goal.
Images: Nine
