Rick Zeller is gently questioning his partner, Jackie Cameron, trying to find out why she was upset earlier that morning before he arrived at the hospital for his daily visit.

Finally, Cameron manages to get the words out.

“I want to go home,” she says.

“Home” is a difficult subject for both Jackie and Rick right now, as they battle eviction from their Surrey apartment of 15 years.

Cameron, 63, is in the final stages of a neurological illness called progressive supranuclear palsy that affects her ability to move and speak.

Zeller, 65, has just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. For the past four years, he has been Cameron’s primary caregiver. She’s now been given six months to a year to live, and Zeller would like to be focused on caring for her.

“She wants to die at home,” Zeller said, referring to the two-bedroom condo he and Cameron rent in a quiet complex of low-rise condo buildings and townhouses in Surrey’s Guildford neighbourhood.

“We’ve been here 15 years, and it’s been her home.”

But for 10 months Zeller has been battling his landlord’s attempt to evict them. Last July, the property management company informed them their landlord would not sign another lease, and they would have to move out by March 2023.