A Bromley mum who has been battling breast cancer for eight years says she is struggling with crippling loneliness while going through chemotherapy.

Amanda Mahoney, who is being treated for recurring metastatic breast cancer, said people "living with" the disease are "marginalised" in favour of recently-diagnosed sufferers and survivors.

The 47-year-old single mum said she believes people who are living with cancer and are yet to fully recover are "marginalised within the cancer community."

She said: "There is a marked difference between support provided when you're first diagnosed and when you've survived cancer.

"The more you go through it the more isolated you become.

"It becomes hard to talk about it.

"I'm eight years in now and people get bored of hearing about it or people don't know what to say.

"People think we've given up because we know we're going to die soon but we want to have a life worth living.

"It's about a good quality of life and I don't have that.

"As a result of cancer treatment complications, my pain is widespread and restricts movement, which then impacts on my mobility.

"I become more isolated as I am less likely to leave the house and this is detrimental to my mood and wellbeing.

"You begin to lose your personal identity. I feel like I'm too young to feel this lonely and I want to do things that everyone wants to do, like go on holiday."

 

Amanda has been struggling all winter, and says that juggling bills and chemo has left her with very little spare money - and nobody to talk to.

She said: "You feel vulnerable because I'm not a hopeful story.

"Sometimes I feel fraudulent because I'm not dressed in a pink tutu fundraising and although I'm very ill inside, I don't look it on the outside.

"It's not often that we are given a platform and people seem to lose sympathy over time.

"My local hospital doesn't provide a support group for people living with cancer and social isolation and financial struggles is rarely talked about.

"When you have to leave work because of your illness, you lose your financial independence which is soul-destroying.

"That goes hand-in-hand with social interaction - you can't go for dinner if you can't afford it."

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Amanda has worked five jobs since being diagnosed in 2011, but as she fights another round of chemotherapy, financial stress is starting to take it's toll.

The former outreach support worker said: "I often sit and think about how I can improve my life and that usually means going back to work.

"But it's not as easy as that, saying 'I'm going through chemotherapy' isn't exactly a great marketing pitch.

"It's difficult to plan ahead as I know my cancer will keep coming back.

"There will come a point when my medication will stop working because my condition will find a way to reroute.

"Coming into winter my anxiety was through the roof because I know I don't have the money to keep up with additional bills.

"I can't afford to do my weekly food shop, I'm living a hand-to-mouth life.

"My dad sent us money to make sure my two children and I had coats and boots.

"If I'm at home on my own, I end up sleeping on the sofa with a coat over me so I save the heating for when the kids are in.

"I'm often too frightened to put the heating on because I worry so much about paying bills."

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The mum said relying on her elderly dad for financial support during the winter months makes her feel "less of a person".

She said: "The longer I go on, the more my savings dwindle. I'm supported by my 80-year-old father who's a stroke survivor - this isn't what adults do.

"I'm feeling less of a person."