An 87-year-old dementia sufferer who was forced to sleep rough by a canal is getting back on her feet thanks to kind-hearted strangers.
Theres been an outpouring of sympathy for Irena Nenius and her son Darius, 45, when it was revealed they were made homeless this week.
The pair were forced to sleep on the streets of Birmingham on Sunday when unemployed Darius, 45, had his benefits stopped and he ran out of money.
With nothing to his name, Darius was kicked out of his flat two weeks ago and is living off his mothers pension, which pays for food and toiletries, but its not enough.
Now, people are raising money to get them off the streets for good.
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In just 24 hours, two petitions have been set up and more than £1,200 raised to help the mother and son from Lithuania.
The first was launched by Raj Rana, co-founder of Lets Feed Brum, who has put Darius and Irena up in The Britannia hotel for a couple of nights.
Steven Gardenir started the second on JustGiving and told Metro.co.uk how sad it is to see some people saying the pair are not deserving of support because of their nationality.
Its sad to see how little empathy there is for an 87-year-old woman in this position, he said.
Most of the focus stems from them being Lithuanian and therefore lesser deserving of help. That was quite sickening.
This is not about nationality, its humanitarian – and politics should not come in to this.
I cant even begin to imagine, and nor do I want to on how distressing it was for her to wake up at the side of a canal in her condition.
Darius says he cant leave his disabled mothers side to find work as she has severe dementia.
I cant go to work, people just say Im lazy, he said. But if I leave my mum for a long time and something might happen, she doesnt speak English. This is horrible. I cannot leave her.
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This upsets me, it upsets mum. City Council refuse to help because my benefits have stopped.
I havent been working for a long time, my pay slips are from 2012.
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