'I just feel like ending it all': Wife of dementia suffering ex-soldier speaks out over funding cut

Stafford woman Katherine Challinor, or Mary Kate as she is more commonly known by her friends and family, has had her once-happy life turned upside down now that NHS bosses have said funding support may be removed for her ill husband Christopher – who has dementia.

The 71-year-old, of High Offley Road, fondly recalled how she and her husband, now 78, spent 10 years in Bermuda together as Christopher served as a highly skilled explosives engineer for the Army.

But around seven years ago their lives changed forever.

Mr Challinor was given the devastating news by doctors that he had been diagnosed with dementia.

Three years later and his symptoms began to get worse, bringing on spontaneous bouts of violence and aggression.

Mrs Challinor's world was ripped apart, but early last year she thought she had got back the husband she knows thanks to the care and support of staff at Limewood care home in Stafford.

Mr Challinor's condition has dramatically improved in the 12 or so months he has been there, but now she has been told he may no longer be eligible for the funding from Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning Group – leaving her with an annual black hole of more than £15,000 a year.

Mrs Challinor struggled to hold back the tears as she spoke to the Express & Star.

She said: "Christopher has been my life. I'm just terrified, if he's moved out of Limewood he will go back to square one.

"But there is no way I can afford £300 a week. I only get a pension of £192 a week.

"The thought of this is making me ill."

"I can't bear the thought of that happening," she added.

"I just feel like ending it all. I don't know what to do. I just feel like getting in my car and ending it."

"Once the aggression started I just folded," she said. "He was in a different care home before and it was a terrible place.

"But when he moved into Limewood he became a different guy.

"He started smiling and he was happy. Out of the blue there was this meeting with the CCG.

"They said they weren't going to provide the funding for him because his condition had improved.

"They brought someone from Leek with them suggesting he could be moved there. I can't get to Leek.

"I am very ill myself I have a fractured spine."

Rob Lusuardi, director of operations and delivery at Stafford and Surrounds Clinical Commissioning Group, said: "Mr Challinor was initially supported for 12 months by Staffordshire County Council's social care funding.

"We have been advised that he is no longer eligible for the same amount of social care funding.

"He has recently been assessed by our continuing healthcare team to see if he is eligible for continuing healthcare funding," Mr Lusuardi added.

"His family have been provisionally informed that he may not be eligible for continuing healthcare funding. However, the funding approval panel will meet to make a decision on March 8.

"Mr Challinor's family has been advised that they would be able to appeal against any decision reached."