Fermanagh woman with cancer waiting months for extension’s approval

Carmen Murray, a widow of 20 years who lives in the Hillview area of Enniskillen, currently has to crawl up the stairs of her house for fear that she may fall – again.

Three years ago, Carmen experienced a serious fall.

“I was coming down the stairs and I slipped, and I fractured multiple bones in my back. How I got to Belfast that day, I’ll never know,” Carmen told this newspaper.

“The minute the doctor saw me, she sent me for a scan and yes, I’d broken my back.”

Carmen had previously had a bad fall around 10 years ago and required two hip surgeries afterwards.

More pain

Six years ago, after experiencing more pain, Carmen went to her doctor.

“He said that there was something in my blood. He said, ‘I think it’s serious and I want you to go to Belfast to have it looked at’, and they got it first time. I had bone cancer.

“It’s progressed since, obviously,” said Carmen, who is in pain daily.

She added: “You can keep it at bay with your medication. I’m on medication every day; it’s chemotherapy in tablet form.”

A diabetic for more than 25 years, Carmen has also been advised not to take a shower when she is alone in the house, in case she experiences a hypoglycemic episode.

“I have hypos as well with the diabetes, and I wouldn’t shower unless there was somebody there. If I took a hypo [episode] in the shower, I could be left lying there for hours.

“A friend of mine comes over and she stands in the bedroom until I have myself showered, so I don’t need carers as yet, but that could happen any time, the way my health is going,” she said.

This newspaper has seen a letter from her cancer consultant in Belfast stating Carmen’s need for an extension to her home, as well as approval from her occupational therapist.

On April 1, she applied for planning permission for a “single-storey extension to rear and improvements to dwelling”.

The aim of the extension is to provide Carmen with an accessible downstairs wet room and bedroom as, due to her declining health, it is difficult for her to climb stairs safely.

“It would mean that I wouldn’t have to go upstairs to shower, that I would be able to shower downstairs.

“And I wouldn’t be taking a chance of going upstairs myself with nobody here, and falling,” she noted.

More than seven months on, Carmen is still waiting for approval from the Planning Office in Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, with the status currently at “under consideration”.

Supporting comments

On the Planning NI website, where Carmen’s application is publicly viewable, it states that there are four supporting comments, two of which are from two individuals, and two others from one individual.

There are three objecting comments on the application, submitted on behalf of one couple.

Speaking to this newspaper, Carmen said that the extension and improvements to her home would “surely help” her way of life.

“You worry about yourself, and who doesn’t? When you get to my age, any fall you get, it’s not good, especially as I have bone cancer,” she said, explaining that if the planning application isn’t approved, long-term she wouldn’t be able to maintain her independence and care for herself in her own home.

“I just feel intimidated by the whole situation,” she added.

The Impartial Reporter contacted Fermanagh and Omagh District Council about the status of the planning application.

A spokeswoman confirmed that the Council ​is in receipt of a full planning application for a single-storey extension to rear and improvements to dwelling which was received on April 1.

She continued: “New plans for additional works were submitted on August 6, which required further consultation with neighbours.

“A number of representations have been received in relation to the application.

“The application remains under consideration, and as such, the Council is not in a position to comment further at this time.”