A Staple Hill woman says she is being forced out of her home after a series of severe health problems.
Fiona Foyer has spent time in hospital every month this year, undergoing agonising operations to remove fluid from her lungs and several blood transfusions due to severe anaemia.
The 49-year-old, who is battling ovarian cancer, has lived in a flat in Berkeley House, Berkeley Road, since 2007, but received an eviction notice in February.
The charity Keyring had been renting the flat for her because she was a volunteer supporting vulnerable Berkeley House residents, but it allegedly told her she had to leave after she spent time in hospital.
Fiona claims she repeatedly asked Bromford Housing Association if she could pay the £500 monthly rent herself for a flat in the building, but says she has been ignored and faces eviction on October 22.
She said: “It’s been one thing after another after another. I have almost died so many times. I have had to write my will.
“I’m too tired to put up much of a fight against this eviction. I just really want to get to the other side of all this.”
'Everything is exhausting'
Fiona, originally from Canada, has volunteered with Keyring to support people with mental health issues and disabilities in the Berkeley House estate for 12 years.
“If people get locked out, or if they have a fall and they need support, they could give me a call,” she said.
“I loved doing it, being able to help people. The problem was I didn’t have any protection as a worker because I was a volunteer, and I didn’t have any protection as a resident because on paper Keyring was the tenant.”
Fiona has been so anaemic in recent years she has struggled to go for a walk. A low haemoglobin count is below 120 grams per litre – hers has hardly risen above 80 over the last four years.
“Everything is exhausting,” she said. “If I have a meal, I have to wait a few hours to have the energy to go out."
It was around a year ago that Fiona’s anaemia started to put her life at risk.
She said: “I was very weak, and I couldn’t walk around much. I went into Southmead Hospital and I ended up needing five blood transfusions.
“They told me I would have been dead within three days if I hadn’t gone in.”
Fiona then suffered a tachycardia problem in January, which meant her heart was beating too fast.
“I had to be given an electric shock in hospital,” she said. “It’s kind of scary to think of that happening to me when I was just 48.”
'You're not going home'
In February, Fiona went back to Southmead with chest infection-like symptoms and was told by her doctor: “You’re not going home.”
She said: “It turned out there was fluid around my lungs. It took three procedures for them to drain 11 litres of fluid. They sealed the sacs around my lungs with talcum powder.”
After three weeks in hospital, Fiona claims she returned home to a letter from Keyring saying she had been dismissed from her volunteering role due to her health problems.
She says she met with a senior figure at Keyring, who allegedly told her: “We need to balance the bottom line.”
Fiona told Bristol Live: “I asked him how he thought it made me feel that no one called me in hospital, no one gave me a head’s up.”
She claims the manager told her he would make enquiries to Bromford about putting the tenancy in her name.
While battling for her home, Fiona had ongoing health problems to contend with. March and April were a “blur”, as she underwent several blood transfusions to fight her anaemia, which had left her struggling to breathe.
She also struggled with severe lung problems, as the February procedure had not proven a permanent fix.
“I was taken ill in June and went back to Southmead for an emergency procedure, where they literally put a tap on my back to take the fluid out of my lungs,” she said.
“My 79-year-old father came over from his home in Canada. I hadn’t really told him the extent of my problems, and he just went grey when the doctor explained. I felt so guilty.”
'There wasn't enough morphine on this planet'
When more talcum powder was put into Fiona’s lungs, she experienced excruciating pain.
She said: “They told me it would be a bit painful. Bloody hell, there wasn’t enough morphine on this planet.
“The pain lasted four days. If you’ve ever seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where the evil priest pulls out someone’s heart, that’s what it felt like.”
Fiona spend almost the entire month of June and the first week of July in Southmead Hospital recovering from the operation, which has prevented her lung problems coming back.
But she then learned those lung issues were a symptom of ovarian cancer, which she was diagnosed with two months ago.
The devastating news left Fiona struggling for hope after months of torment with her health.
“Every month this year I have been in an ambulance with flashing lights,” she said.
“I look like I am heavily pregnant because I have so much fluid in my stomach from the cancer. It’s very, very uncomfortable.
“I miss travelling. I miss working and making plans and socialising. I want to get back to living.”
'They just ignored us'
Fiona claims Bromford “wouldn’t acknowledge or reply” to repeated attempts to take over the Keyring tenancy over the last eight months.
She said: “I had amazing support in hospital. They tried to talk to Bromford on my behalf, and the Staple Hill Councillor Ian Boulton tried too. They just ignored us.
“I really love Staple Hill and where I live. I have such good neighbours.
“I have just resigned myself to the fact I am going to have to find somewhere new to live.”
Fiona will undergo a full hysterectomy – the removal of the uterus – this month, which she hopes will be a long-term solution to her cancer.
She says no volunteer has filled the role she was dismissed from, and fears vulnerable Berkeley House residents will suffer.
Fiona’s friend Mary Kvasnic has set up a Facebook campaign to raise £1,800 for her. With Fiona unable to work at the moment, the money would make the challenge of finding a new home easier for her. You can donate here.
Bromford and Keyring declined to comment.
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