Fuel Poverty: Cancer Person in Remission

As part of a series of personal testimony from people experiencing the cost of living crisis we hear from Karen Bucknall.
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As a cancer patient in remission from advanced bowel cancer and  endured six 6 weeks of radiotherapy, with  six months of chemotherapy and wearing a permanent colostomy bag. I am now living  on benefits, including PIP for my disabilities in a small flat above a shop.

I’ve been shielding as a clinically extremely vulnerable person and spend a lot of time in my flat.  Where I feel safe and secure and shut off from the harsh reality of catching covid and becoming  poorly, hospitalised and could even face death.  I have no immune system and the slightest infection makes me ill. With my covid vaccines, I am triple jabbed as well as having the yearly flu jab.  I am often feeling  the cold and can have unexplainable shivering episodes,  I need to keep  constantly warm.

My flat is small and  cosy and  has central heating in all rooms, and an electric oven and hobs.  I like cooking, trying out new recipes and eating healthier. With the rise in  food bills, I struggle to budget for  fresh fruit, vegetables and salad.

As if surviving cancer and  coping with a brain tumour and living through a pandemic isn’t bad enough. There is the  fear of the cancer returning and getting covid.  Now I  live with the additional worry of soaring  energy fuel bills and how I am  going to pay for them.

When the government scrapped the extra lockdown payment, which  ended a few months ago. It put my  social security household into a financial crisis. That nearly £80.00 every month was a life line towards the energy fuel bill and which meant I  could have both central heaters on in the living room and in my  bedroom. When the payment suddenly stopped,  it left a crippling hole in my fuel  budget. Now I have to economise, by only have one central heater on in the living room and only putting the heater on in my bedroom,  one hour before bedtime,  to take the chill out of my freezing bedroom.

In my living room, I  have blankets, cushions, a fleece duvet and pillows, where  I  can snuggle down on my  settee, all nice and snuggly whilst  watching tv . I  do this to save money on my fuel bill.

I  live in fear of  it getting very cold, with snowy wintry showers, forcing me to put  the heating  on full and  for long periods. Now  frequently stressing over, how I am going  to pay for it? When I should be concentrating on getting well again after my cancer and getting  myself fit and healthy to return back to work. It is a vicious circle  of  fuel poverty, mixed with living with the cancer returning and the low grade brain tumour affecting my quality of life.

The government doesn’t  care about cancer patients and those in remission. We  are  often the hidden away and  forgotten members of society. Who want to make the most of the time we have left, making the most of our fractured lives impacted by cancer and  look at creating new memories with our loved ones. We want to  have our affairs in order, to do things on our bucket lists and to  feel warm and safe in the sanctuary of our own homes. No cancer patient or those in remission should be worrying about where the money will come from to pay their  fuel bills.

I do worry that many cancer patients are spending the end of their lives, or  in remission from cancer,  in a cold,  damp and often uncomfortable home.  With  not having the basic heating they need. Therefore suffering during the winter, with wearing extra layers of clothing and unnecessarily shivering under their blankets or duvets, often hugging their hot water bottles for that extra comfort and warmth. Where is the dignity in that, cancer patients  freezing in their homes,  deciding what is more important fuel or food?

The lockdown extra allowance, was a lifeline for many cancer patients to  heat their  homes sufficiently and pay their heating  bills on time . After all they have been through a lot and their basic principle is to keep warm, eat healthily and look after themselves both mentally and physically and trying  to  rebuild  their lives  again.

Why are we being punished by the government for having cancer? Often left with  disabilities due to the illness  and unable to work. Many of us before getting cancer were professional people, with degrees and  had  good  well paid jobs. We didn’t ask to get cancer and suffer, as we did nothing wrong, I  guess we just got  unlucky. We  often feel like a burden on  society and to  our loved ones , when we just want a better quality of life.