Essex woman Debbie Storey was
diagnosed with kidney cancer in March - and she died last week. Her
family claim she had put off getting treatment because she thought
it would mean she would lose her sons Ben and Sam.
They have Asperser's
syndrome, a condition linked to autism, as did Debbie herself. But
it was her decision to try to get help for the family that triggered
a series of dreadful events.
She had turned to Essex
social services to get help for her sons at home as they were not
happy at school. They were given support, but it led to an
assessment that Debbie and her husband Michael were emotionally
harming the boys.
Ben and Sam were placed
on Essex council's children at risk register, and for a long time
the family felt desperately close to losing the boys to the
authority's care.
Eventually, the threat
was lifted. But Debbie's mum has told ITV News Social Affairs
Correspondent Helen Wright it was only then that Debbie revealed she
had been carrying another burden - she had felt desperately ill but
had been too scared to see a doctor in case an illness meant her
sons would be taken away.
The back pain she was
suffering was in fact the precursor of the kidney cancer that
eventually took her life.
Her family say while they
will never know if an early diagnosis would have saved Debbie, they
hope lessons will be learnt.
Lisa Blakemore-Brown, a
psychologist who helped the Storeys fight to keep their sons, has
told ITV News she believes care proceedings were only considered
because officials do not fully understand Asperger's syndrome.
Essex Council responded
to ITV News: "We are aware that Mrs Storey was sometimes unhappy
with what we were able to offer but we worked very hard to
understand and respond to the complex circumstances of the family."
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