This 32-year-old woman has always been very financially stable because she has a well-paying job and makes smart investments.
Her brother, on the other hand, could not be more different. He is 35-years-old and has a history of financial struggle– mainly due to a gambling addiction.
So, even though her brother has a wife and two children, she has been financially supporting him and his family for the last seven years.
“I’ve paid for his kids’ school fees, medical bills, and even their rent,” she revealed.
She has also encouraged her brother to go to therapy for his addiction multiple times. But her brother always just promises that he’s “done” gambling and never actually seeks any help.
Yet, just three weeks ago, her brother’s life came crumbling down again.
She found out through a mutual friend that her brother had been involved in a high-stakes poker game. To make matters worse, he lost a massive amount of money during the game.
Now, after hearing about that, she confronted her brother. Then, after she pressed him for more information, her brother admitted to using the money that she had given him for her niece’s upcoming surgery.
“I was livid,” she recalled.
“I understand addiction is a disease, but I felt betrayed that he jeopardized his daughter’s health.”
So, she wound up telling her brother that until he got professional help, she would no longer be providing any financial help.
While she wanted to teach her brother a lesson, though, her decision would impact her niece more.
Apparently, her brother’s wife wound up calling her in tears– claiming that they could not afford her niece’s surgery without her financial assistance. She also got accused of punishing the kids for her brother’s mistakes.
“And my parents are split on the issue,” she vented.
On the one hand, her mom thinks withdrawing financial support was justified. But, on the other hand, her dad thinks she is being way too harsh– especially since the surgery is a life-or-death matter for her niece.
So now, she’s not sure whether no longer supporting her brother financially, which means her niece may not be able to get the surgery, would be the wrong thing to do.
Do you think she did the right thing by cutting her brother off? Could she still pay for her niece’s surgery by directly paying the medical bills instead of giving her brother the money? What would you do?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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By Katharina Buczek
Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing in... More about Katharina Buczek
