Louise Del Giudice never thought the day would come when she’d be the one to have to hold it all down for the family and make the decision as to whether she could afford to send her two daughters, Ashley and Bianca to college. But when her husband Joseph required a heart transplant, and later, a second, she took on the role of caregiver and breadwinner.
Joseph, once a healthy Pepperidge Farms distributor and part-time house flipper, became a regular in the Cardiac Care Unit at Westchester Medical Center. Louise rarely left his side, often sleeping on an air mattress on his hospital room floor just to be with him. “I really have to believe that there is a higher power because just before he got sick, Joseph insisted I go back to school and learn about real estate,” Louise says. “I didn’t think I could do it. But he pushed me to be confident so I could achieve my goals. I didn’t expect my work to be the principal source of income, but you do what you have to do.”
Louise continued developing her career as a real estate broker while the New Rochelle couple got used to Joseph living life with a defib pacemaker. However, after a trip to upstate New York resulted in a series of defibrillator shocks, his heart gave out. He recovered, but not fully enough to go back to work.
Louise says she felt fortunate to have the support of her family at such a difficult time. “Thank God for my family. Without them I would have been lost,” she recalls. When she heard about TRA, then known as WestFair Rides, she thought getting involved with the organization would be a way to provide similar support to people who needed help. She became volunteer driver seven years ago and spends a few hours in each week driving people to their doctor appointments.
“TRA helps people who have no one. When people are struggling, and have to worry about paying the bills, and taking care of themselves, it’s nice to be able to get a ride when you need it. God knows, if I didn’t have my family, I would have been nowhere. So, the folks we are helping to get to their healthcare appointments, it’s like we are their family.”
Today, Louise is Century 21’s No. 1 real estate broker in The Bronx and Westchester and among the company’s top ten brokers in New York State. As Louise and Joseph look forward to their 36th anniversary this summer with their daughters and four grandchildren, she takes pride knowing that she is part of an organization that offers a lifeline for older adults when they need it: “I love meeting the people I drive and hearing their story. I care about them.”
“I was very fortunate to be able to make enough to pay the bills and send our daughters to college,” Louise shares. “But knowing how hard it is to go through something like this, I feel very gratified volunteering for TRA. I have fallen in love with their work and feel it is very important to give back.”
“Listen, you never know when life is going to fall apart around you. You just have to keep going,” Louise adds. “Just keep going.”
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