AN Ulster cancer sufferer has revealed how her battle with the killer disease plunged her into a nightmare of financial hardship, stress and exhaustion.
Meta Auden, 49, said she lived on "literally nothing" as she struggled to feed a family while undergoing treatment.
The mum-of-two spoke out as Health Minister Michael McGimpsey came under pressure to axe prescription charges for cancer patients i
n Northern Ireland.
Earlier this week, Gordon Brown announced he was scrapping drugs bills for sufferers in England – in line with Scotland and Wales – which will give 250,000 patients free treatment.
Stormont Finance Minister Nigel Dodds said yesterday that the Prime Minister's move was "the right way forward" and there was "an urgency" to do the same in the Province.
Meta was diagnosed in 2006 through Action Cancer's screening service and underwent surgery late that year and again in May 2007.
Her recovery time was slowed by wounds which wouldn't heal and later by developing lymphoedema - swelling which develops as a result of an impaired lymphatic system.
Employed as a welfare advisor with a community association, Meta was covered for six months' sick pay. It was after this stopped in May 2007 that she realised just how difficult managing money with a serious health condition can be.
With Meta's husband having taken early retirement because of ill-health, she was now the bread-winner, and tasked with supporting their family - a teenage son and adopted daughter, now aged seven.
"I had nothing, literally nothing," the 49-year-old mother said of that time.
They quickly realised her husband's pension would not be enough to cover the mortgage, household bills and feeding a family of four.
"We ended up having to use every penny of it for our mortgage and became dependent on family," she said.
A social worker in the City Hospital referred her to a charity which pulled them out of a hole.
"They actually paid for my oil that year, that's how bad we were," she said. "It was a nightmare."
Her insurance refused to cover her because of a discrepancy and she became increasingly worried she would lose her east Belfast home.
"It became so bad that in December I took a nervous breakdown," she said, "and it was down to the money pressures."
Her doctor ensured within two days that health benefits she had applied for nine months previously were finally approved.
She said: "We are still struggling because I'm not back to work yet.
"I'm still dreading my next oil refill. The credit crunch is hitting everybody, but when you're on benefits it's worse."
Because she receives child tax credit, Meta gets free prescriptions. However, she said if she did have to pay she would have been forced to "go without them".
"It was all I could do to get the mortgage paid, it would have been an added expense that I couldn't pay," she said.
"Even now I would be pushing it. And which ones do you give up? There are probably people who are making decisions like, 'which ones can I live without', or 'which ones are the most important'. And most women with breast cancer are on drugs for five years afterwards - it's not a short-term thing."
She said scrapping prescription charges for long-term illness is a "brilliant" idea, but was "annoyed" Northern Ireland wasn't included.
"I certainly believe cancer patients should get their drugs for free," she said. "I just wish our politicians would get together and get it started over here."
The Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has promised a report soon on a review he is carrying out on all prescription charges.The full article contains 614 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.
