Laura Lee

When Linda Jeffrey 's husband Charles died suddenly, she was left To Live on £77 a week.

The 64-year-old says she cannot afford to put her heating on, and she lives on food bank donations and cooking apples from a tree in her elderly mother's garden.

" I Dream of eating lovely food like a big juicy steak, " she told Bbc Scotland .

" But My Life is on pause just now until I reach 66 when I can collect my state pension. "

Linda was The Deputy supervisor of an after-school club in Dundee for Six Years until her husband died in September Last Year .

He was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer just a week before his death. Linda went back to work a couple of months later.

" I was in shock when Charles died because we only knew he had cancer for a week before he Passed Away , " She Said .

" I went back to work too soon and felt weepy all The Time and it wasn't fair on The Children , so I went to The Doctor and was told I had anxiety and depression. "

Linda left Her Job as she was mentally too unwell to carry on.

" The Doctor said I was to take Baby Steps and that it was too much to go back to work, " She Said .

" I couldn't go Out There The Way I Am . It's very hard. I just stay in My House and have blankets to keep warm.

" I do nothing and stay in My House so I have no overheads apart from bills but it's still very hard to make ends meet. "

Linda receives £77 a week sickness benefit and does not have a private pension.

In two years' time she will be entitled to a state pension. A full state pension is currently £185. 15 a week.

The mother-of-one said: " I'm so grateful for the vouchers I get to spend at the food bank, they are a lifesaver in what has become a very Hard Time for me.

" I've worked all My Life and this is the First Time anything like this has happened to me. I've taken it really badly. "

Charles worked on oil rigs all over The World on a month on, month off basis.

He was home In July 2021 when he was taken to hospital in a lot of pain.

Linda said: " He woke me up in The Night saying he was in so much pain in his legs and bottom of his back, I had never seen him in that much pain so I called an ambulance.

" But after scans they said they couldn't find anything and sent him home. "

He then returned to hospital a month later saying he could not put up with The Pain . He had an MRI scan and he was told his skeleton was covered in lesions.

" They said it was cancer and he was So Far gone there wasn't anything they could do for him. I was very shocked, " Linda said.

" He started to get confused, lost a lot of weight and Passed Away . "

Linda first met Charles at a hotel disco in Dundee, where she grew up, in 1985.

The couple paid off their mortgage just before he died.

Dame Laura Lee , chief executive for cancer care charity Maggie's, said: " It's very difficult for people like Linda when there is a Sudden Death in The Family .

" There is an expectation that people will go back to work, but it's a shock to The System mentally and physically and people can feel very anxious and isolated especially when their partner has died.

" Linda is not alone and the current cost of living crisis in people affected by cancer is the worst I have ever seen.

" Maggie's has experts at our 24 centres across the UK where people can access support. We can also help if someone is worried about money.

" In Linda's case, we also helped signpost her to a local food bank. "

Linda said she Missed Her husband Every Day .

" He was such a strong character, " She Said . " He lived life to the full and loved his job because he got to go to lots of different places.

" He would do the cooking when he came back and would experiment on me with all the dishes he had tried while being abroad.

" I loved eating his food and trying all his different recipes. It would be so nice to eat the food that I really like again. "

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Source of news: bbc.com