By Jeremy Halcrow

A few years ago, Sharon was married with three daughters and working full-time. But her life changed dramatically when doctors found a cancer growing in her adrenal gland.  She tried to fight the disease, but when the cancer returned in her lung, she was told that there was nothing more that could be done but to prepare for death.
Shocked to hear that news, things got worse when her husband left, because he could not cope emotionally with caring for his wife through illness for a second time. Sharon was too sick to work, so she and her daughters went from a two-income family to surviving on handouts.
Anglicare says some single parents families like Sharon’s are struggling to get by on meagre handouts and face complex health costs, which are far beyond their means to meet.
“I am very, very grateful for being alive but life has certainly been a challenge since the lung was removed. For the past year I have been on an oxygen machine for eight hours a day and all through the night. However, recently the hospital funding for the oxygen tank ran out,” Sharon said.
“I am trying to learn to breathe on my own but I get pretty breathless even when I talk. I also become tired moving around the house. Even walking up my back steps is a real challenge.”
Sharon explains that her poor health has made it very difficult to find a job. “At the moment I am trying to become strong and healthy so that I can find a part-time office job. But to be honest, reaching my 40th birthday would be a big goal to achieve. I do worry what will happen to my girls if I die. But I know Anglicare will make sure they are cared for.”
Although Sharon has undergone counselling, she still battles with depression. Left alone and isolated in her own home, Sharon says the visits by Anglicare workers are what she looks forward to each week.
“I am often stuck in my home because my health is so poor, so sometimes I feel very lonely. That’s why I always look forward to the visits by Dianne, my Anglicare worker. She brings so much joy into my life when she visits.”
Sharon admits that without the food hampers and help paying her utility bills, her children would have been cold and hungry this winter. “Without [this] generosity and humanity, my daughters and I would not have got through a very trying time in our lives.”