Mum cancels kids’ Christmas after fight with cancer leaves her broke

19 December 2023 , 09:38

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Catherine Jewers was forced to miss work because of chemotherapy treatment (Image: Caters News Agency)

A mum-of-five has cancelled her kids’ Christmas after her fight with cancer and survival left her with just £30 a week

Catherine Jewers was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time and was forced to miss work because of chemotherapy treatment. The single mum has been desperately struggling to purchase food and keep her kids' home warm. She was left with £30 a week after being forced to leave her job and suffered with the side effects of chemo treatment. This has left her restless and battling to keep warm over winter.

She has a rare a type of invasive breast cancer called Metaplastic which is only found in one per cent of cases, according to Breast Cancer Now. It is more likely to spread to other parts of the body than other types of breast cancer and her metaplastic tumour is triple negative, which means it can't be treated with hormone or targeted therapy according to Cancer Research UK.

Catherine Jewers who was diagnosed twice with breast cancer has struggled to buy food and heat her home (Caters News Agency)

The mum-of-five is left with £30 a week to live off (Caters News Agency)

The 50-year-old from Norwich 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.”

The mum was diagnosed with breast cancer before and it spread to the body tissue which holds white blood cells that fight infection. She was told the disease was sparked by oestrogen levels. The NHS says the female hormone can stimulate breast cancer cells and increase their growth.

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Catherine, 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."

Catherine says having cancer for the second time has been been a huge struggle (Caters News Agency)

She has been forced to leave her job leave my job, but now has only £30 a week to heat her home and buy food. She often skips meals to allow her to feed her children. Food, she says, has now doubled in price and trying to visit the supermarket after chemotherapy is almost impossible. Catherine has since stopped stop heating her home and asked her her children to put on more clothes while they are in the house. But she is still distraught at having to abandon Christmas because of her financial struggles.

After struggling to get round the supermarket, she said: “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."

Graeme Murray