10 June 2023 , 16:25
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One of the UK's loneliest pensioner who cannot afford his energy bills so lives in the dark, says he is now fighting cancer and fears he will die alone.
John Foster is having treatment for oesophageal cancer but says he is struggling.
The retired shipyard worker from Sunderland has no family to help and no says he is "completely alone" in his struggle to survive every day.
The 76 year old told how he now lives in the house he grew up in with his parents and siblings, and feels "isolated" from the world and is just "existing".
Heartbreakingly, John now lays his will andfuneralarrangements out every night before sleeping as he fears not waking up every morning.
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Speaking to Channel 4 Dispatches, he said: "I started doing this when my sister died. I've got no family - they've all gone - so there's nobody to do things like this.
'If anyone comes into the house this is the first thing they're going to see. They will phone the funeral directors, they'll come out and everything will be done."
John described how he now feels sad all the time while looking back on the death of his entire family.
He revealed he now has cancer (Mark Taylor / Channel 4)He explained how his miner brother died four days before his 41st birthday, his sister died five years ago and his parents both died within 27 hours of each other.
Without every marrying and with no children, John added: "I can't believe I'm the last one here. It takes getting your head around it, you just can't work it out."
In his brutal struggle to survive every day, Dispatches showed John receiving help from Karen Noble - from local charity Pallion Action Group - who advised him on how to access benefits which could help pay for his bills and food.
In total, John's benefits rights came to an extra £131.25 every week, which the pensioner was totally unaware was available to him.
John added: "I'm getting a lot more money now, which I've been entitled to for a few years and I didn't know, I had no idea."
He went on to explain how when his siblings and parents passed away, authorities failed to pickup on his struggle and he was unable to access online information.
Speaking about his cancer diagnosis, John said his is currently feeling very sick from chemotherapy and is due to start radiotherapy in January 2024 but he doesn't feel hopeful about the future.
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He said: "To be honest, I would rather not be here.
"People can't survive like this, the drugs attack everything, I felt fine until I got diagnosed, I thought i had a hernia and it would be a simple check up.
"The doctor sat me down and told me it was serious, my health has deteriorated since starting chemo, I just don't have the energy for anything.
"I said to the doctor last time I went for a check up, can you please just give me something to end it all.
"I usually go cut the grass at the cemetery on a Saturday, and I look forward to it, I am so tired I don't know if I can even do that any more, anything I once enjoyed - I can't do."
Age UK director Caroline Abrahams said: "Many viewers will be shocked by this programme, and they are right to be.
"Pensioner poverty fell steadily for a generation but then it rose again and now, as this documentary demonstrates, it's truly back with a vengeance.
"What we see in this programme ought to be a wake-up call that prompts an important discussion about how we ensure every older person can live decently and with dignity, free from the fear of the next big unaffordable bill."