Lisa / Liisa (79) and Herman / Heikki (80) have been married for 60 years. They have four children. The only son died of cancer at the age of 40 a few years ago and they still feel great sorrow for it. The girls are all family-owned and Lisa and Herman have 4 grandchildren, whom are already teenagers.

Lisa is sitting in a wheelchair because her legs are weak due to rheumatoid arthritis, but she is able to get up to stand and move to bed without help. In addition, she has high blood pressure. Herman is still in quite good physical shape, but he has high cholesterol and a balloon dilation of the heart as well as impaired hearing and vision.

They live in a large house and have so far managed without the help of home care. Now age and everyday tasks bring their own challenges to yard care and snow work in the winter. Cooking is starting to get difficult as Herman can no longer cook as before and the kitchen is not designed for the wheelchair user.

While Lisa was still able to walk, she enjoyed cycling and did crafts.for example knit socks for all relatives. She also wrote poems and took part to the poetry club, and dil read lot of books and borrowed them from the library.

Herman was active at a young age. He played football, which he still watches on television. Days are spent caring for the house, cooking and watching TV. Herman would still read and do crossword puzzles, but impaired eyesight poses a challenge. Herman gets tired of helping his wife so he can’t invest properly in his own well-being. The daughters live so far away that they can only help during their holidays.