My name is kelly and im a 27 year old single mum of a 2 year old girl and a 1 year old boy.
I don't normally ask for help, especially financial help, but I'm really stuck here.
My mum is my best friend. I haven't gone without seeing her more than 2 days with the exception of holidays etc my entire life. I've never been able to come to terms with her not being in my world one day.
But unfortunately this is what I'm being faced with.
She's been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. She is deteriorating at a rapid rate.
I am on a single parent pension and don't receive much child support. My mum is only on a widows allowance and after her Dept of Housing rent is deducted, she only gets $340 a fortnight.
I am 100% caring for my Mum. I live 40 minutes from her house with my kids and I'm driving there at least once a day, sometimes twice or more. This is taking a huge toll on my kids sleeping routines and also on my car and purse! I'm absolutely honoured to be the one caring for my Mum but the pressures are a lot to handle. Other than her, my two kids and myself, we have no family. Her family are estranged and live in England and other parts of the world.
My mum has no savings or superannuation, but has a few unpaid 'small' bills (telstra Internet, electricity & gas etc), and probably the biggest worry of all is that she has no funeral cover. I am totally happy to be financially responsible for her. But I just don't earn enough to give her the dignity or rid her of the worry of leaving these debts to me.
I am struggling immensely.
Emotionally I am going downhill really quickly. I have reached out to the appropriate services for help which was the first port of call and I've been advised to set this page up to hopefully ease my financial stresses.
I am driving my mum to everything she needs to go to. She's about to start 3 weeks of radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments. Radiation and chemo aren't gonna cure my mum. They're only going to help rid the pain and reduce the size of the tumour but she will only have to go through the process again and again when it returns until the cancer beats her one way or another. She's a different person sometimes. She can be quite grumpy and snappy. Which I've learnt is common in cancer patients. It's a horrible side effect to watch as it makes mum short with the kids and I don't want their time with her to be negative. She doesn't mean it and none of us (unless we have/have had cancer) can say we understand but I sure imagine it would make the best of us express things in a way we normally wouldn't, and things to make the time my kids spend with Nanna to entertain them and involve Mum a little without straining her Or tiring her out would be lovely to buy. Or things to make her life a bit easier like a thermos for constant hot water rather than her getting up and down and waiting for her kettle to boil etc. A normal day for me these days consists of me driving 40 mins to her house then 45 mins to hospital, wait 2+ hours and then back again, with two kids. Added doctors appts, chemist trips etc. I don't take her shopping anymore as she can't leave the house except for these appts (which hurt her so much) so im doing that too. I cook all of her meals which adds $120+ to my food bill each fortnight. I spend my Sunday from 9am til 6 or 7 at night in the kitchen and not with my kids which fills me with guilt. Fuel, parking, tolls, snacks for the kids, the list goes on and I've actually got no idea how my rent is paid (my rent is over 50% of my income:( )
The financial strain has caused me to find a size of nappies close to too small for my daughter and too big for my son, so that they share the same size rather than buying two. They're by all means looked after but some simple luxuries to keep them more entertained or involved while we are with mum would be really wonderful. I just can't afford it.
I hate to ask, I honestly do. But I need help.
If you can afford to, please donate to help my beautiful best friend find some sort of peace in her last few months on this planet. I will be eternally grateful. One day I promise to donate to other people's unfortunate causes to return the fantastic karma that any of you may forward on.
Thanks for reading.
I don't normally ask for help, especially financial help, but I'm really stuck here.
My mum is my best friend. I haven't gone without seeing her more than 2 days with the exception of holidays etc my entire life. I've never been able to come to terms with her not being in my world one day.
But unfortunately this is what I'm being faced with.
She's been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. She is deteriorating at a rapid rate.
I am on a single parent pension and don't receive much child support. My mum is only on a widows allowance and after her Dept of Housing rent is deducted, she only gets $340 a fortnight.
I am 100% caring for my Mum. I live 40 minutes from her house with my kids and I'm driving there at least once a day, sometimes twice or more. This is taking a huge toll on my kids sleeping routines and also on my car and purse! I'm absolutely honoured to be the one caring for my Mum but the pressures are a lot to handle. Other than her, my two kids and myself, we have no family. Her family are estranged and live in England and other parts of the world.
My mum has no savings or superannuation, but has a few unpaid 'small' bills (telstra Internet, electricity & gas etc), and probably the biggest worry of all is that she has no funeral cover. I am totally happy to be financially responsible for her. But I just don't earn enough to give her the dignity or rid her of the worry of leaving these debts to me.
I am struggling immensely.
Emotionally I am going downhill really quickly. I have reached out to the appropriate services for help which was the first port of call and I've been advised to set this page up to hopefully ease my financial stresses.
I am driving my mum to everything she needs to go to. She's about to start 3 weeks of radiation therapy and chemotherapy treatments. Radiation and chemo aren't gonna cure my mum. They're only going to help rid the pain and reduce the size of the tumour but she will only have to go through the process again and again when it returns until the cancer beats her one way or another. She's a different person sometimes. She can be quite grumpy and snappy. Which I've learnt is common in cancer patients. It's a horrible side effect to watch as it makes mum short with the kids and I don't want their time with her to be negative. She doesn't mean it and none of us (unless we have/have had cancer) can say we understand but I sure imagine it would make the best of us express things in a way we normally wouldn't, and things to make the time my kids spend with Nanna to entertain them and involve Mum a little without straining her Or tiring her out would be lovely to buy. Or things to make her life a bit easier like a thermos for constant hot water rather than her getting up and down and waiting for her kettle to boil etc. A normal day for me these days consists of me driving 40 mins to her house then 45 mins to hospital, wait 2+ hours and then back again, with two kids. Added doctors appts, chemist trips etc. I don't take her shopping anymore as she can't leave the house except for these appts (which hurt her so much) so im doing that too. I cook all of her meals which adds $120+ to my food bill each fortnight. I spend my Sunday from 9am til 6 or 7 at night in the kitchen and not with my kids which fills me with guilt. Fuel, parking, tolls, snacks for the kids, the list goes on and I've actually got no idea how my rent is paid (my rent is over 50% of my income:( )
The financial strain has caused me to find a size of nappies close to too small for my daughter and too big for my son, so that they share the same size rather than buying two. They're by all means looked after but some simple luxuries to keep them more entertained or involved while we are with mum would be really wonderful. I just can't afford it.
I hate to ask, I honestly do. But I need help.
If you can afford to, please donate to help my beautiful best friend find some sort of peace in her last few months on this planet. I will be eternally grateful. One day I promise to donate to other people's unfortunate causes to return the fantastic karma that any of you may forward on.
Thanks for reading.
Organizer
Kelly Miller
Organizer
Boronia, VIC