Terminally ill cancer patient 'told she is not disabled enough for benefits'
Jane Windle is in constant pain, always short of breath and can barely walk due to tumours in her lungs and pelvis
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Your support makes all the difference.A terminally ill cancer patient has been stripped of a key disability benefit because she is “not disabled enough”.
Jane Windle is in constant pain, always short of breath and can barely walk due to slow-growing carcinoid tumours in her lungs and pelvis.
She was given six months to live when she was first diagnosed in 2001 but has defied medical expectations to live for another 15 years.
Ms Windle was receiving £140-a-week Disability Living Allowance, but was reassessed as part of the Government's push to phase it out.
She says she has now been denied the newest benefit - Personal Independence Payment - which has been widely criticised for having tougher criteria.
Her husband, William, has also been told he will no longer receive a £60-a-week carers’ allowance to help look after her.
The 52-year-old told the Daily Mirror she feared they would be left “penniless” and she would have to go to the doctor every two weeks just to get £72-a-week Employment Support Allowance (ESA) from next month.
The former petrol station worker from Northampton said: "It's impossible to predict how long I've got left, but it has always been terminal. I have never been in remission and I never will be.
"But for some reason they are saying I can go back to work. They are saying I am not disabled enough.”
Ms Windle has to have an injection every two weeks to stop her tumour growing and has an operation every three months to put a stent between her kidney and bladder.
A DWP spokesperson said Ms Windle's case was being reviewed: "Decisions on eligibility for Personal Independence Payment are made after consideration of all the evidence, including an assessment and information provided by the claimant and their GP. All claimants have the opportunity to appeal and if their situation changes, they can ask to be reassessed.”
It comes as the Conservative government has approved further cuts to disability benefits with ESA being cut by £30-a-week for any disabled person who is deemed fit to work.
The cut will primarily affect people using specially-adapted equipment - such as cars - to get to work.
Several high profile MPs, including Mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, have been oust from their positions as patron of disability charities over their decision to back the cut.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said the cut for people who use adapted equipment will affect 370,000 disabled people, who will each lose an average of £3,500 a year.
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