A Warminster mum says the costs of travelling for her son’s cancer treatment and having to take time off work nearly led to her family losing their home.

Debbie Martin says she and her husband Andy faced an eviction notice last year because they were struggling to pay their mortgage.

Now the couple are backing CLIC Sargent’s call to the political party leaders to commit to a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund if they become the next prime minister.

Debbie’s seven-year-old son Finn was diagnosed with leukaemia in October 2015. He was finally given the all-clear in January this year.

The family's nearest specialist cancer treatment centre is 50 miles away in Southampton and they also visited Salisbury District Hospital 30 miles away.

The couple clocked up more than 20,000 miles in over 280 trips to Salisbury and Southampton that cost more than £15,000 in fuel and parking charges.

In addition, Andy, a self-employed builder, lost more than £30,000 worth of income because of having to take time off work.

With Finn’s cancer treatment lasting for over three years, the family almost lost their home last year after building up mortgage arrears.

Debbie, 50, of Victoria Road, Warminster, said: “For over three years we had to travel to either Southampton – 50 miles away – or our local hospital – 30 miles away – for Finn’s cancer treatment.

“When Finn was first diagnosed we were in Southampton for seven or eight weeks straight because he was so unwell.

“We wiped out our savings within the first couple of months, everything we had was gone. I had to give up work so that I could be with Finn in hospital, which meant that we lost one salary.

“We had arrears stack up on our mortgage and in September 2018 we were hit with a court date for eviction.”

New research from CLIC Sargent has revealed that families are struggling to afford basic, day-to-day essentials due to the extortionate costs of travelling for their child’s life-saving cancer treatment.

The research found that one in three families are struggling to afford to pay their rent or mortgage.

One in five families struggle to afford heating in their home and a third of parents are struggling to afford food for themselves or their partner.

Young cancer patients have to travel to specialist cancer centres across the UK for treatment, which is often not available at their local hospital.

This means families are burdened with an average round-trip of 60 miles to get to and from hospital for treatment, spending at least £180 a month on petrol when treatment is at its most intense.

Other families are forced to pay out hundreds in taxi fares or public transport costs.

The length of cancer treatment for young people varies from months to over three years, which can mean hundreds of journeys back and forth to the hospital.

In the last 12 months, another 4,450 young cancer patients and their families across the UK have together spent around £5 million simply travelling to treatment.

CLIC Sargent is calling for the creation of a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund to reduce the financial burden on families.

As well as getting to and from hospital, families face other added costs when a child is diagnosed with cancer, spending an average of £600 a month extra on top of everyday expenses and bills.

The biggest expenses families face other than travel include food, hospital car parking, energy bills and car-related costs.

Costs are hitting families at a time where parents may have had to give up work or cut their hours to be with their child.

Debbie said: “Dealing with a childhood cancer diagnosis has devastated our financial state. Everything gets expensive very quickly. The stress was so high all of the time, at a time when all you really want to do is be there to comfort your child.

“After we received the letter telling us that we could be losing our home I was on the phone pleading to the mortgage company, who didn’t want to hear it.

“I told them that Finn was due to finish his treatment in a few months and we would no longer be spending so much on travel to hospital, so we just needed to work out a repayment plan from that point. But they didn’t listen.

“In November we went to court and thankfully the judge saw that we’d been paying what we could and that we had plans to sort out the arrears as soon as we could manage.

“The whole situation was hideous though, there’s no way this should be happening to families.

“It’s not about the house - I’d give my house away 10 times over for my child’s life, but we were in a vulnerable situation and not able to see a way out.

“This could happen to anyone whose child suddenly gets a cancer diagnosis, losing everything you’ve ever worked for. Families are going through their worst nightmare – there needs to be more help.”

Kate Lee, chief executive officer at CLIC Sargent, said: “How can it be right that parents could lose their homes or be left at financial breaking point when they’re already dealing with the unbelievable stress of their child having cancer?

“Parents shouldn’t have to live in fear about whether they can afford to take their child to hospital for life-saving treatment when they are already terrified for their child’s health.

“One of the key principles of the NHS is that it’s free at the point of use but with families spending hundreds on travel before they even step inside the hospital door, the system is clearly failing them.

“We know that the current travel costs scheme is not fit for purpose and is available to too few families. Families are facing countless journeys to and from the hospital for treatment, often stretching over years.

“They are being pushed to the limit, with parents being forced to go without meals or unable to pay their rent, just so that they can put petrol in the car and get their child to hospital.

“Regardless of what’s been happening in Westminster, every day families are travelling hundreds of miles and paying hundreds of pounds to get their child to life-saving cancer treatment.

“Families are at breaking point – scraping together pennies, borrowing money from family and friends, relying on charitable grants.

“We’re asking all party leaders to listen to young cancer patients and their families and commit to a Young Cancer Patient Travel Fund.”

The charity is urging supporters to sign and share its electronic postcard. Go to clicsargent.org.uk/travel-costs.