POLAND – For four years, George Sidebotham has battled to regain his life after major complications from a heart attack. Struggling with twice-daily therapy sessions, he’s learned how to stand, get in and out of a car and navigate his wheelchair almost completely blind. But the 57-year-old d’Youville Pavilion nursing home resident still has a major hurdle to a more normal life, one thing that seemed so simple before.

Getting into his house.

“The wheelchair doesn’t wheel in the sand, it doesn’t go up (the front) stairs,” said his wife, April Sidebotham. “We tried it once. It wasn’t a good scene. He fell three times.”

During one of his last visits home, Sidebotham had to stay in the garage and backyard. It was the only way he could see his three dogs.

A family friend estimated a handicapped accessible ramp would cost $1,500. It’s money that George and his wife, a fabricator with Auburn manufacturing, don’t have.

From his wheelchair in d’Youville, Sidebotham’s tried for months to get help from someone – MaineCare, some local charities, a disability rights group, Maine U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins – but his efforts have so far gone nowhere.

A former truck driver, he used to love boating, snowmobiling and working in the yard. Now he dreams of a different activity.

“Not so much that stuff, but being here with my dogs,” he said, petting his elderly Labrador mix, Bear.

Sidebotham had a heart attack in 2004. He survived the crisis, his wife said, but complications arose after surgery. He went straight from the hospital to d’Youville.

At first, Sidebotham was depressed, lonely.

“He wouldn’t even get out of bed,” said clinical coordinator Marissa Varney.

Sparky, the nursing home’s dog, enticed Sidebotham to join the world around him. An electric wheelchair made getting around that world easier.

With therapy, Sidebotham worked on sitting up, standing, walking with help. He learned to get in and out of his wheelchair, in and out of a car.

“All that progressed into wanting to go home,” Varney said.

Although he may never live on his own again, Sidebotham is well enough to visit his Poland home. He’s done so only a few times in four years.

All went badly.

“I can walk 285 steps with a walker,” he said. “But I can’t get myself to climb stairs.”

During one visit, three people worked to get Sidebotham up his front steps. During another, they gave up the idea of getting him in the house and simply rolled him into the garage so he could play with his dogs.

On Friday, he stayed in the driveway, swatting away bugs while he visited with his wife and granddaughter and seized the rare opportunity to see Bear.

“Come see Dad, baby,” he cooed to the dog. “Daddy misses you.”

Sidebotham isn’t sure where else to turn for help with the ramp. “If I was 65 or had mental problems, I could get all kinds of help,” he said.

Still, Sidebotham said he won’t give up. He’ll keep looking for someone who can help. After four years in a nursing home and the prospect of never living on his own again, visits home mean too much.

“It’d give me a chance to get away,” he said. “It would give me some freedom.”