Kidney transplant - can she claim benefits?

mosaicwendy

Hi
Hope you can help - my friend had a kidney transplant 4 years ago and returned to work, and until recently was doing very well. She has recently undergone a period where her new kidney started to reject, thankfully the wonderful staff at the hospital were able to turn it around.

However, she has been unable to work since being ill and it looks like she may not be able to return to work and she is devastated, she is a very independant lady after bringing up her 2 girls alone since her husband died 5 years ago.

She has done a foundation course in Counselling and if she couldn't work would like to continue to study to be a Counsellor at university as this is something she feels she can do around her health problems but also she feels she has a lot to offer other people.

Does anyone know what benefits she would be entitled to and where she can go for help and advice, we don't have a job centre in town and the staff in the nearest one weren't very helpful. She gets a widows benefit and because her youngest daughter is still in full time education she gets something for her (not sure what). However, her daughter goes to uni herself in September and will get a bursary so my friends tax credits etc will go down.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Wendy

Hapless_2

Has shtried claiming Incapacity Benefit and DLA?

mosaicwendy

Thank you for your reply, I think that is one of the next steps she will have to take - although she is very reluctant to be classed as disabled. She is a very independant lady but I feel she is gradually recognising that her life has changed and will continue to change in a way that she does not really want it to go.

If we can help her achieve part of her dream of going to uni that would be a good help for her to make this adjustment, being able to go to uni would be such a boost for her confidence. Unfortunately her situation is complicated by this widows benefit she gets and to be honest, the pack of information she got through from the DHS was so huge and complicated she just felt daunted by it all. Maybe if she had a path to go to uni, considering the DLA might not seem quite so dreadful for her.

I will be meeting with her for a coffee today so will ask her about incapacity benefit - not sure if I can mention the 'D' word....

Anyway - thank you for your reply
Many thanks
Wendy