both of you guys--this really touches on the whole new reality of photo archiving that comes with digital photos. I worked in commercial photography for 25 years + and the whole backup issue is a real concern. We have always said that there will be millions of families that will not have photos from parts of peoples lives simply because of hard drive failures, mistakenly dumping stuff, etc
Big topic, but the main thing is to make an effort to have an external hard drive that constantly copies and backs up your main computer. Doesn't help with a house fire or theft, just as copying stuff "in the cloud" can have some issues as well.....

good luck mr 10 wheels. My computer tech friend has told me that failed hard drive recovery stuff is generally expensive, but being in the states with such a larger population, I hope you can find a less expensive tech person---mind you, a failed hd can unfortunately mean a physically damaged disc, so as I'm sure you're both aware, there are no promises.

and most importantly mr 10 wheels, all the best with the full time caregiving duties.