A MUM diagnosed with terminal cancer fears being in more pain over winter because she can’t afford to heat her home.
Melanie Finlay was given between 12 and 18 months to live earlier this year as a metastatic cancer spread to her bones, lungs, hips, knees and bone marrow.
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She told BBC Scotland she has spent most of her summer in a hospice to manage her pain levels but now has a mixture of medication to help at home.
But she’s expecting this to become more difficult during the winter months.
The mum-of-one said: “It’s one of the most painful cancers you can have and the cold weather has a major affect on your bones wherever you live.
“But being in the Highlands it’s as damp and cold as you can get here- it’s definitely uncomfortable.’
The family from Inverness use a pre-payment metre in their two-bedroom flat where they spent at least £300 a month on gas and electricity.
In the past week, this has risen to £100 a week for electricity alone.
Melanie has now been force to put money aside in preparation for winter.
She told the BBC: “I’ve been putting money aside during summer and this will hopefully go towards heating this winter.
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“We’ve got extra duvets and hot water bottles and I’ll be able to wrap my legs up in blankets.
“There are places I could go to get out of the house if I need to, like Maggie’s Centre at Raigmore- they’re emphasising if you need a cup of tea and keep warm [people can go there].”
The family are also taking steps to be more energy efficient as winter looms.
But Melanie’s husband Tom works from home to be her carer and are predicting their changes may not be enough to ease the troubles ahead.
She said they may have to turn the heating off in their front room and only heat the back bedroom to keep the costs down.
She added: “We’ve changed the lights to energy – saving bulbs and are going to seal the windows – but it’s going to be a case of fingers crossed and see how it goes.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by friends of the mum to try and help ease the burden for the family.
The page has raised over £6,000 in funds to help and can be found here.
Bills are expected to rise to an average of £3,549 on average a year from October will warnings of further rises into the new year.
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