A DEVASTATED husband says he is spending his terminally ill wife’s final days fighting over the heating amid the cost of living crisis.
Fran Batty, 50, has been told she is unlikely to live for more than a year after her bone cancer spread to her brain.
But instead of enjoying her remaining time with husband Stewart and their two kids, the couple have been rowing about their bills.
Bus driver Stewart wants to turn the heating off to make Fran comfortable, but she does not want to spend the money.
He told the Mirror: “All that really matters now is having nice family time together.
“But it’s really hard when you’re so worried about money and how to pay the bills.
“We’ve even started having a few cross words between each other over it.
“I’ll say that I’m going to put the heating on to help her warm up and she’ll tell me not to. Things like that. It shouldn’t be like this.”
Fran, who has twice beaten breast cancer, has been forced to give up work as a personal assistant to undergo chemotherapy.
Stewart has also been forced to cut his hours to help his wife, with the family living off his part-time wages, Universal Credit and disability benefits.
But due to the spiralling cost of living, the couple’s energy bill has risen from £170-a-month to £290.
As a result, Stewart says they have been forced to slash their outgoings – including getting rid of luxuries such as Sky and cutting back on Christmas presents.
He added: “I just want to be with my wife every second right up until the day she passes – but if we don’t get the money from my wage we’d go under.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m living a nightmare. The last thing we both need right now is having to worry about money.
“The fact that fuel, electric and everything else has gone up couldn’t have come at the worst time.
“We’ve been cutting back everywhere we can. Food we’ve cut back on. We’ve stopped buying meat.”
It comes as charity Marie Curie warned calls to their support line from Brits struggling to get by have rocketed by more than a third since last year.
They are now campaigning to allow terminally ill people of working age to access their State Pension to help with costs.
Stewart has backed their calls, along with more than 149,000 who have signed the petition.
He said: “It’s about making sure the kids have got what they need. It would make life that little bit more comfortable if we had that money.
“If you’ve contributed to the economy of the country your entire life and paid in been part of the productive era of the country, then it’s the least you deserve.”
