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PRINTSusan Livesey
Susan Livesey is from Wales. In 1997 shortly after her mother died, Susan started suffering from psoriasis – a skin condition that causes irritation, itchiness and inflammation. She was working in a factory at the time and the synthetic products were a huge irritant. Susan’s condition continued to get worse and the pain caused by the psoriasis became almost unbearable, eventually leading to her being hospitalised after an attack. Today, even simple tasks like cleaning and washing up are very difficult; added to this, another symptom of Susan’s psoriasis is a constant feeling of nausea.A few years ago Susan’s ceiling collapsed, damaging her boiler so she had to live with no hot water. Without savings of her own to mend it she had to wait for the council to approve a grant application - this took two years.
Susan’s employers were not very sympathetic with her taking time off work and her employment became sporadic and her income reduced. The constant stress of worrying about money made her psoriasis even worse and she eventually had to stop work completely in 2006.
The unpredictable nature of the psoriasis attacks and being allergic to so many products means that Susan cannot hold a permanent job. She struggles to make ends meet on the welfare benefits that she receives; when she first contacted us she had no fridge and her home was in poor repair.
Susan heard about Elizabeth Finn Care in 2006 and started receiving financial support in 2007. She says, “My visitor is great – he’s currently helping me to fill out a reduction form for my heating bills. The support of Elizabeth Finn Care has helped reduce the stress considerably.”