Hi Doodle,

First of all congratulations on getting rid of the unwelcome guest.

You are not the first person I have heard of where the boss has got rid of them during treatment. As if you didnt have enough problems fighting the cancer. Plus you have probably allready loss a lot of money through not being able to work plus the cost of getting to and fro from hospital for treatment. This is one of the lesser known costs of cancer.

I personally cant think of any register apart from private employment agancies. I do know of one couple who were faced with a similar problem; only it was the wife who'd had the cancer. They couldnt find work so what they did was to set up their own company doing office cleaning. He told ne it didnt need much outlay and allthough it meant working early mornings and evenings/weekends they were able to make a reasonable living once they had got established. The bunus side was it left the day free for him to do odd jobs for people like lawn mowing, window cleaning; again jobs that didnt need any finace as he already had a good mower; trailer for his car and ladder. He was 63 years old so he said his age was against him so the only way was to make his own employment.

I wish you and your wife luck in finding employment and please let us know if you have any luck, Brian

Hi Doodle,

First of all congratulations on getting rid of the unwelcome guest.

You are not the first person I have heard of where the boss has got rid of them during treatment. As if you didnt have enough problems fighting the cancer. Plus you have probably allready loss a lot of money through not being able to work plus the cost of getting to and fro from hospital for treatment. This is one of the lesser known costs of cancer.

I personally cant think of any register apart from private employment agancies. I do know of one couple who were faced with a similar problem; only it was the wife who'd had the cancer. They couldnt find work so what they did was to set up their own company doing office cleaning. He told ne it didnt need much outlay and allthough it meant working early mornings and evenings/weekends they were able to make a reasonable living once they had got established. The bunus side was it left the day free for him to do odd jobs for people like lawn mowing, window cleaning; again jobs that didnt need any finace as he already had a good mower; trailer for his car and ladder. He was 63 years old so he said his age was against him so the only way was to make his own employment.

I wish you and your wife luck in finding employment and please let us know if you have any luck, Brian

Dear Woodworm

Thank you so much for your reply, I have just contacted the Cancer Research press office with this very question.  It will become more and more important since so many people are now recovering from the illness to such an extent that the government will have to do something about it.  My own job loss was very very debilitating since i had worked for the company for 26 years in a senior position.  With regard to employment agencies my own view is ' not a good ' they are only interested when they can cherry pick candidates who are currently working.  As regards unemployment benefit because my wife and i have savings put away for our retirement we have to live off these until they reach £16,000.  At this point in time i wish i hadn't been careful with money all of our lives.

Thank you so much Brian for getting in touch and i do hope that you are currently doing well.

Chris

Hi Chris,

You might be intersted to read a thread I started about two years ago entitled THE COST OF CANCER.

If you click on the search button in the blue bar at the top and then type in The Cost Of Cancer it should bring it up. I found out how much Macmillan estimated cancer costs in loss of wages, transport ect. and wanted to let people know. The cost has probably risen during the two years since they published the figures and doesnt take into account the toll cancer exacts on us emotionally and mentally.

Take care, best wishes, Brian.