A STRUGGLING mum-of-five recently diagnosed with cancer for the second time has decided to cancel her kids’ Christmas.
Catherine Jewers has struggled to make ends meet since getting breast cancer again.
CatersMum of five Catherine Jewers who recovered from cancer once has now been diagnosed with the disease a second time[/caption]
Catherine was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer and had to take time off work to have chemotherapyCaters
The single mum had to take took time off work to have her chemotherapy, but has since then struggled to buy food and heat her home for her kids.
Left with £30 to her name a week, Catherine has struggled massively since leaving her job, and with the side effects of chemotherapy, she is left restless and struggling to heat her home this winter.
The 50-year-old from Norwich, UK, said: “Since having cancer for the second time it’s been a huge struggle.
“I can’t afford my food shop anymore, nor put my heating on and now I have told my kids that Christmas is cancelled.
“I’m a single mother, I have been for years, and I can’t afford to eat or live or even survive.”
Catherine was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2010, which had managed to spread to her nodes.
Doctors told the mum her cancer was triggered by oestrogen levels.
The female hormone oestrogen can sometimes stimulate breast cancer cells and cause them to grow, according to the NHS.
That’s why having your body exposed to oestrogen for longer periods of time – which happens when you start your period early or experience menopause later – can slightly raise the risk of breast cancer.
Catherine went through a mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and reconstruction and managed to beat it the first time around.
But in April this year, Catherine received the devastating news that her cancer had come back again.
She said: “The first time I had cancer was in 2010 and it was oestrogen-based breast cancer that had spread to my nodes.
“I had a mastectomy, chemo, radiotherapy, and reconstruction – it was awful.
“April of this year, I was diagnosed with the same cancer, but I have a triple negative metaplastic osteoclast breast cancer with giant cells on the other side.”
Metaplastic is a rare type of invasive breast cancer accounting for around 1 per cent of cases, according to Breast Cancer Now.
While it tends not to spread to the lymph nodes, it is more likely to spread to other parts of the body than other types of breast cancer.
When a metaplastic tumour is triple negative, it means it can’t be treated with hormone or targeted therapy, as it doesn’t have receptors for oeastorgen, progesterone or a protein involved in cell growth called HER2, Cancer Research UK said.
Catherine went on: “Since then, I had to leave my job, which was incredibly tough as I worked there throughout Covid, but now I’m left with £30 to my name a week and I struggle to afford food.”
With two of her kids living at home with her aged just 16 and 19, Catherine struggles to supply a food shop and often skips meals to feed her children.
She said: “Food I would normally buy them has now doubled in price; I struggle to get around supermarkets due to chemo, so a shop alone is so difficult.
“I find it soul-destroying how I can’t afford to feed them; I’ve worked for 38 years of my life – I’m dealing with my cancer and now I’m struggling with heating my home and paying for my food shop.
“I came out of the shop in tears because I just can’t do it – I’ve had to tell them that Christmas is cancelled, and it broke me.”
With Christmas approaching in less than two weeks, Catherine has had to stop putting her heating on and tells her children to layer up in the house.
“I’ve said to my children, there will be no extras over Christmas, there will be nothing.
“I’m going through my chemo, I don’t have my heating on, my kids constantly ask if they can have it on for a few hours and I tell them to grab a blanket and wrap up.
“We have gas central heating, so the prices are extortionate – everything is.
“I receive child benefits which is around £25 a week and my personal independence payment (PIP) but that’s it.
“My eldest in the house who works only earns £60, so I tell her to keep it as that’s her money, I just feel awful.”
She added: “I have stuff in my freezer that sometimes is precooked meals but if I’m having a bad chemo day, I give it to my girls to eat.
“Every time I look at the prices my eyes water up, I can’t live like this.”
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
One of the most recognisable symptoms of breast cancer is a lump in your breast.
But that’s not the only sign to look out for.
Cancer Research UK detailed these five key signs of breast cancer:
A new lump or thickening in your breast or armpit
A change in size, shape or feel of your breast
Skin changes in the breast such as puckering, dimpling, a rash or redness of the skin
Fluid leaking from the nipple in a woman who isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding
Changes in the position of the nipple
While these changes to your breasts could be caused by other conditions, it’s important to speak to a GP about them.
She now lives on £30 weekly and struggles to heat her home, let alone buy gifts for her kidsCaters
Caters“I’ve said to my children, there will be no extras over Christmas, there will be nothing,” Catherine said[/caption]