In 2005, Helen Bolland was in the RAF, serving in Iraq, when she was badly injured on patrol. Three years later, she was medically discharged. But her time in the wartorn country has had a long-lasting impact on her both physically and mentally.
The 42-year-old now suffers from chronic widespread pain syndrome, chronic fatigue, and functional neurological disorder which has caused “extreme” pain in her left arm and leg and no feeling below her knee. She also suffers from PTSD.
She is only now receiving trauma therapy, some 17 years later, which in turn has forced her to take a year off from her social work degree at Glasgow Caledonian University.
The severe pain she endures daily is alleviated by heating her home in the town of Erskine, near Glasgow, where she lives alone with her dog, Morse. But the cost of energy has now forced her to take medication to relieve the pain instead — medication that is highly addictive and dangerous and only meant to be taken infrequently when suffering a flare-up.
Speaking to Express.co.uk from her bed, she said: “It is very cold. I can’t move around as much and the cold affects my pain. When it’s cold and damp like our winters, it’s just awful. I don’t like to have to take breakthrough pain relief, but I’m using it to get by instead of actually heating the room.
“If the room was warmer, the pain would still be bad but the heat would make it more tolerable and easier to move around. I’m effectively poisoning my body with opioids because I cannot afford to heat the room.”
Soaring energy bills coupled with the cost of living crisis are causing those with disabilities and chronic health conditions such as Helen to “choose between breathing and eating”, a survey by Scottish accessibility charity Euan’s Guide has revealed. Helen is one of the 14.6 million disabled Britons who are paying a higher price as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.
She said: “My health is worse as a result of this. I would rather go without than run up a debt that I can’t afford. I think a lot of disabled people are like that; a lot of us have developed a weariness of the system. Getting on the wrong side of a power provider and working up a debt is something you want to avoid because we can’t deal with that extra struggle, so we do without instead.”
Around 18 months ago, Helen felt as though she reached a place with her health where she was living rather than simply “existing”. But now she has been dragged back to square one, once again in survival mode. While she does not think she will be defeated, she is sure that others will not be able to see this crisis through.
“This is going to kill people that are in my situation,” she said. “There are disabled people out there who will unfortunately die — they will freeze to death because they cannot afford to heat their homes or they will get infections that their bodies aren’t strong enough to deal with. This will kill people.”
For those with chronic conditions and disabilities, there are many more hidden costs to consider. Even before the cost of living crisis, disabled people faced extra costs of £583 a month on average — almost £7,000 a year. For 24 percent of families with disabled children, this was more than £1,000 a month, according to Scope.
Helen’s wheelchair is almost in need of replacement; a wheelchair’s average lifespan is up to five years. Her occupational therapist has advised that she now needs two wheelchairs, including one with special power additions. Altogether, this will cost an eyewatering £24,000. She also needs a mobility vehicle. But, like everything else, the deposit for this has increased and Helen is now forced to find an extra £400 a month to save if she is ever to afford it.
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“Sometimes I feel desperate. It’s a constant battle: you feel like you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” she said.
In some ways, Helen feels lucky as she can rely on her war pension, which makes a “huge difference”, and receives help from armed forces charities. Without this, she simply does not know what she would do.
She continued: “It’s really made a difference. I probably never thought that I was lucky with my disability before, but I’m lucky to be a disabled veteran because I have a fallback when the essentials are needed. For people who are not veterans, there is nothing for them to fall back on and I just do not know how they manage because I struggle to manage with the help that I get.”
But Helen believes those with chronic conditions and disabilities will not give up without a fight as they are resilient, “constantly living in an able-bodied society”. In her view, it is now up to the Government to do “a lot” more as the “token” payments received are merely delaying the inevitable.
