CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Every step Don Winton takes, could very well be his last.
He has Stage 4 cancer.
“I had 20 chemo treatments, and they gave up," Winton said. "They said they can't cure me.They gave me 3-6 months."
And that was four months ago, according to Winton.
That's why it was a social worker who actually called and asked if we could help him.
In 2018, Winton hired Eddie Savoy to lift this house higher off the ground. The total cost was $18,000 with half down.
Winton paid Savoy $1,900 for city permits to do the work.
Then $8000 more.
But he insists the city never issued the permits to begin with.
Savoy remembers that they did.
The Troubleshooters checked with the city's Development Services Department, which issues building permits.
Their records show Eddie Savoy Homes applied for a permit in March 2018, but was denied because Winton's house is in a flood plain.
Since no work had been done by August 27, 2018, Winton fired Savoy. And he wants his money back.
“He fired me,” Savoy told the Troubleshooters. “That's the reason he ain't getting his money back. If he hadn't fired me, we probably could have settled this thing out."
But Winton doesn't comprehend the problem of getting his money back.
"I don't understand why he's doing this at all," Winton said.
Winton lives in a boat at the end of a long pier behind his house.
At some point, his social worker says, as the cancer continues ravaging his body, he won't be able to make the walk back and forth anymore.
Then, he'll have to move back into his house.
