A CANCER sufferer has thanked the people of East Lancashire for donating hundreds of pounds to help keep a roof over his head.

Self-employed electrician Karl Benson was diagnosed with germ cell cancer in December last year and said he was forced to fundraise via Go Fund Me to help pay the bills because he didn't receive any benefits for eight months.

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He said: “When you are going through cancer treatment you are worried about whether you are going to survive let alone pay the bills.

“My business was just starting up so I had to find my feet and I had paid the wrong grade of national insurance.

“Something has to change and the government should assess your current situation rather than your past. It seems insane,” said Karl.

Karl, who grew up in Darwen and has worked across East Lancashire, discovered that he hadn’t made enough national insurance contributions to qualify for statutory sick pay or employment support allowance following his diagnosis.

But, despite the gap, he paid the £800 he owed from the financial year 2011/12.

The former Blackburn College student who lives with his partner Lucy in Manchester said: “What my partner earns isn’t enough to support two people because we were used to two people working. We didn’t want to lose the house and there was nothing I could do.

“I found it quite degrading, especially as a man I was proud and didn’t want to ask other people for money but I had to. I would have been better off single and on benefits,” he said.

Karl is now in remission but is due to undergo surgery in December to remove his left testicle, as germ cell cancer often occurs in testes.

He said: “ I am so grateful for the support everyone has been fantastic. Having cancer changed my whole outlook on life and the people who have donated have been wonderful. I would have certainly done it for them.”

Once he was means-tested and eight months into cancer treatment Karl was awarded a personal independent payment (PIP) of just over £100 a week.

A spokesperson for the Department of Work and pensions said: “PIP is designed to be more sensitive to the specific impacts of all medical conditions on an individual’s daily life, recognising that this will be different for everyone. It is not related to work.”