I left my native country to study in England when I was 17. Back then, my family was quite well off and invested a lot in my education. I am for ever grateful for that. While finishing my masters, I met the love of my life. We are now in our 20s, happily married with a child, but we live simply, within our means. The situation, however, changed dramatically for my family; my parents went bankrupt and my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I realise that my younger sister and brother might never get the opportunities I had in life. We do not have the finances to help them and we live on opposite sides of the planet. I care deeply and I cannot shake the feeling of guilt. I feel like I made myself happy but failed them somehow.
• When leaving a message on this page, please be sensitive to the fact that you are responding to a real person in the grip of a real-life dilemma, who wrote to Private Lives asking for help, and may well view your comments here. Please consider especially how your words or the tone of your message could be perceived by someone in this situation, and be aware that comments that appear to be disruptive or disrespectful to the individual concerned will be removed.
• If you would like fellow readers to respond to a dilemma of yours, send us an outline of the situation of about 150 words. For advice from Pamela Stephenson Connolly on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns.
• All correspondence should reach us by Wednesday morning. Email: private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions: see http://gu.com/letters-terms