We never had extra cash to purchase gold or silver. We had to use most of our retirement savings for a life-threatening medical situation for one of our children (after we retired) and haven't (and won't) be able to build it back better (or at all actually).
Sucks, but we can make it - not including debt payments.
It could be possible you will have to pay back the debt over a certain amount of time but without interest. That is probably the fairest way to do it.