‘It’s hard to know you can’t handle your kids’

Nancy* rarely leaves home because of her health, but when she does she locks the door to her bedroom where she stores her medication. The 34-year-old is worried that her children, who are seeing her slowly wither away from cancer, might be overcome by sadness and decide to put an end to it all. But she does not say these things aloud at home. Instead, she tries hard to put on her “happy face” and be positive for her three children. Walking into her home, furnished almost entirely with donations obtained through the Millennium Chapel, one would not think the family is battling poverty and ill health. Christmas decorations are strewn around the small living room as Nancy works on livening up the atmosphere for the festive season. “It’s hard to be a mum and know you can’t handle your kids,” she says in a tone that is almost apologetic. Nancy’s suffering is made worse as her own mother could not look after her. When she was 10, her parents were involved in a traffic accident and her mother suffered permanent brain damage and lost her ability to walk. Since then she has had the intellect of a seven-year-old. “When you live in a family where someone is sick, you don’t want to be sick...