Cost of Living: 'The stress of rising costs and a child with cancer'

Tilly Jones was diagnosed with leukaemia 2 years ago, aged conscionable four.

Mum Gemma is "so proud" of however her girl has coped with it, but is uncovering the fiscal interaction of crab precise stressful.

She has to regularly instrumentality Tilly connected a 120-mile (193km) circular travel from Powys to Cardiff for treatment.

Gemma is besides spending much connected heating and food, positive treats to cheer up Tilly erstwhile she's successful hospital.

The 38-year-old said determination person been days erstwhile she has been capable to provender her 4 children, aged betwixt six and 16, but has gone without a blistery repast herself.

She said the household was "struggling" already with the outgo of living, making cutbacks and sometimes relying connected assistance astatine the section assemblage hub and nutrient slope wherever she volunteers.

As good arsenic those anxieties, Tilly's leukaemia has besides brought added fiscal unit arsenic Gemma wants to support her girl comfy and arsenic blessed arsenic possible.

"When Tilly's connected her medication, she'll devour similar a horse," she told BBC Wales Live.

"My fridge has got to beryllium afloat each the time, my cupboard's got to beryllium afloat and with state and electrical I'm struggling present with it.

"I enactment wealth connected the different time and had to apical up again connected Monday. It's not fair."

Gemma said that during 1 seven-day enactment astatine infirmary successful Birmingham she spent astir £300 bringing successful nutrient and things Tilly wanted similar magazines and toys.

"How tin you accidental nary to a poorly child?" said Gemma.

"I americium getting precise stressed. I person epileptic fits astir days from stress. It's conscionable hard.

"I conscionable springiness her emotion and enactment and that's each I tin do."

Tilly was diagnosed with leukaemia 2 years agone erstwhile she was conscionable 4 and requires regular infirmary trips from their location successful Builth Wells, Powys to Cardiff, which is astir 64 miles (103km) away.

Such question has meant large petrol costs.

Gemma is incapable to enactment for wellness reasons and says the other costs associated with crab are "unbelievable".

Latest figures amusement crab successful children accounts for little than 1% of the approximate 375,000 crab cases diagnosed successful the UK each twelvemonth - with astir 1,800 caller cases among young people.

Now crab enactment charities person said much radical are applying for grants to assistance with costs.

Cancer foundation Latch helps families with subsistence, travel, mortgage, rent and household bills. It has besides helped Gemma with her mileage costs.

Chief executive, Menai Owen-Jones, said: "Each twelvemonth we enactment with astir 120 families and past twelvemonth we gave astir £300,000 worthy of grants to families.

"We're decidedly seeing an summation successful the fig of grants we provide.

"Over the past twelvemonth we've seen an summation of 20% and we are proceeding families saying to america they are acrophobic and worried."

The James household is besides dealing with rising costs and caring for three-year-old Griff, who was diagnosed with leukaemia past year.

Grants from the Young Lives Vs Cancer foundation has helped but Kathryn James says they were inactive "watching the pennies".

"I americium not expecting to beryllium supported passim the full attraction process," said the teacher from Wrexham.

"However, successful that precise archetypal instance, during the intensive process wherever you don't cognize if you're coming oregon going, determination should beryllium much enactment determination for families to instrumentality that interest away."

Macmillan Cancer Support has said families tin beryllium eligible for assorted payment benefits but Richard Pugh from the foundation has said the strategy tin beryllium hard to navigate.

* Source: Macmillan Cancer Support

"They've got to interest astir crab arsenic it is," helium said. "Let's marque the strategy enactment for them and let's not marque it a reactive strategy wherever they've got to spell looking for things astatine the worst imaginable time."

Macmillan believes crab diagnosis should automatically "trigger" fiscal support, alternatively than radical having to apply.

The UK authorities said it was supporting six cardinal radical with a disablement oregon wellness information with an other £150 outgo arsenic portion of a £37bn enactment package.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: "We recognize however hard existent pressures are for families facing cancer."

"We impulse radical to cheque whether they are receiving each of the benefits to which they are entitled, and to beryllium alert of the wider enactment this opens up, including assistance with including assistance with transport oregon broadband costs."

If you person been affected by immoderate of the issues successful this story, the BBC Action Line has links to organisations which tin connection enactment and advice