This week, we’d like to help a 64 year old woman called Julia who recently found out she has breast cancer.

Julia already lives with severe osteoarthritis, a degenerative disc disease that affects her spine and carpal tunnel syndrome. She is physically exhausted and in constant pain, which has led to her experiencing panic attacks and depression.

Julia lives with her daughter and 2 year old granddaughter. Her daughter is a care assistant in a hospital, but after Julia was diagnosed with cancer, she had to reduce her hours to help care for her.

Julia was nominated by a charity worker, who said: “Living on benefits, with her daughter also struggling to make ends meet, Julia has not been able to afford household goods that would help ease her suffering.”

Julia has a spare bedroom in her council house so is charged extra rent, which she can’t afford so she has fallen into arrears - she has applied to downsize to a smaller council house but nothing has come of that yet. 

They don’t have a working fridge, and Julia’s mattress is old and not at all suitable for her conditions, so she finds it hard to rest. As well as the practical things they need, Julia’s support worker told us that Julia ‘wistfully speaks’ sometimes of being able to get away for a few days, but she knows that’s out of the question for her family.

With your help, we’d love to provide Julia with an orthopaedic mattress, a new fridge and we’d also love to send her, her daughter and her granddaughter on holiday for a few days.