‘I’m barely existing’: Cancer and the cost of living crisis

It is perhaps not the first thing you think of when you are diagnosed with cancer – but it costs a lot.

There’s travel to the hospital, the need for healthy food and keeping warm at home. If you are unable to work and lose your income, the financial effects can be catastrophic.

The charity MacMillan has given this programme exclusive figures revealing that the number of patients with cancer needing help to pay their heating bills has more than doubled – and it says the government must do more to help.

Our social affairs editor, Jackie Long, has been to Lancashire to meet a mother who’s struggling with the cost of living, while facing the fact she’s dying.