A TERMINALLY ill wheelchair-bound woman told today how she is ‘trapped 24/7’ in her first-floor flat because housing bosses are failing to re-home her.

Cancer-stricken Lesley Hendry says she has been identified as a fire risk because she is stuck up two flights of stairs at her Port Glasgow block — with no means of escape.

The 38-year-old mum claims that housing association staff have not visited to see how she is living, despite a raft of phone calls outlining her plight.

Lesley — who has a malignant tumour at the base of her spine — told the Tele: “At this point in my life, when I need my family the most, I’m on my own.

“I feel abandoned. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and all I do is cry.

“As if things aren’t bad enough for me already, I’m stuck in this flat. It’s just a nightmare.

“The fire brigade have written a letter for me saying they are concerned for my safety and medical people have said that my current living arrangements are totally inadequate.” Lesley told how her daughter Caitlin, 18, has had to move out to make way for specialist equipment — including a hospital bed, a hoist, zimmer frame and a commode.

She said: “They wanted me to give up my tenancy to Caitlin and move into a one-bedroom place away from Port Glasgow.

“I think they were hoping I’d take an amenity house at the esplanade in Greenock.

“But if I did that I’d lose my support network and friends here in Port Glasgow — my mum lives nearby me too.” Lesley is a Link Housing Association tenant but River Clyde Homes have also been involved in trying to get her a move.

She said: “See for this wee short time in my life, I want my daughter with me. I want my friends beside me.

“I don’t want to have to move away to where I won’t see anybody from day to day.

“When I phone the housing association, it’s just like a wee tick box — ‘No we can’t give you that house because...’ “But no-one has been up here to see me at all, and the flat is not adapted for a wheelchair either. Caitlin sleeps at a friend’s house in Greenock every night — it’s not a good situation.” Lesley’s cancer was first diagnosed in one of her lungs four years ago but she has since developed the tumour in her back, which has eroded her vertebrae to such an extent that she is now confined to a chair.

She said: “It’s terminal, the only care I have now is palliative but I’ve not been given a timescale about how much longer I have left.

“It seems so little to be asking — I just want to be able to have a bit of a life.

“I’m not fussy, I’ll take anywhere that’s suitable as long as I can still live locally.” Daughter Caitlin, pictured with her mum’s array of medical equipment, said: “My mum can’t even use the toilet, she has to use a commode because it takes about 15 minutes just to get her to the toilet.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. They should have had something arranged for my mum long before now.

“The fire brigade has been out to put an alarm system in for her, but if anything happened at night she wouldn’t be able to get out.

“She’s totally limited in what she can do, she can’t even get a bit of fresh air.

“She’s got a wee balcony but her wheelchair doesn’t fit to get out onto the balcony.” Lesley’s best friend, Shana McLarty, 36, said: “They say they can’t give her a flat at ground level because there’s maybe two or three steps leading up to it — but they’ve got her here on the first floor.

“It wouldn’t be a huge stretch to fit a ramp at the steps at any flat at ground level.” Lesley — who has carers who put her to bed at night and get her up in the morning — said: “I’ve seen a load of houses, bidded for them — but I can only bid for houses which come into the category I’m in on the waiting list.

“If I bid for the one I would like to have, a three-bedroom in Burnside Avenue, it would put me down a level and take my points away.

“River Clyde Homes say they’ve not really got anything. I’d applied for a couple of houses but they said I’m not entitled to three bedrooms — even though my boyfriend is needed at night now to help me.” Sandra MacLeod, director of housing and customer services at RCH, said: “We are aware of and fully sympathise with Ms Hendry’s situation.

“We have offered assistance to Ms Hendry, and others advocating on her behalf, in terms of support in bidding for properties available through our Choice Based Lettings Scheme.

“However, to date, Ms Hendry has not placed any bids on properties advertised to her housing needs group.

“We are currently working with various support agencies including Ms Hendry’s landlord, Link Housing Association, with a view to trying to secure suitable alternative housing for her and her family.”