At last, home for terminally ill mum

A TERMINALLY ill mother has finally moved into a house close to her relatives.

Sophie McGarry, 27, who has stage four terminal breast cancer, is living in Farm Close, Sonning Common, with her husband Alekos, 32, and their 23-month-old girl Aria.

They had spent nine months in Reading effectively homeless while waiting for social housing. They had to move several times and were unable to find a permanent home as other people had greater priority.

In December, Alekos’s mother Aleka made a desperate appeal in the Henley Standard for a new home for the young family and South Oxfordshire District Council stepped in to help.

Their two-bedroom terraced council house has a garden and is only a short walk away from Mrs Melioti and her husband Ray McGarry in Pages Orchard.

Villagers and friends have been helping the family by painting the house, tidying up the garden and moving furniture following an appeal on Facebook which received dozens of responses.

The couple were given tins of paint and decorating supplies as well as garden compost from the Heath & Watkins hardware shop in Wood Lane.

A local painter and decorator called Mr Tiko gave up his evenings after work to help and an 83-year-old man helped plant pots for the garden.

Volunteers from a church group called Torch also helped together with Mrs Melioti’s neighbours, Kathy Lambert and Magdalena Basinska.

Sophie said: “It has been overwhelming seeing all the support. It goes to show how good people can be even when they don’t know you.

“The house is shaping up well and everyone is working really hard on it. I’m glad we have managed to find a house just around the corner from Aleka and it’s a really nice neighbourhood.

“We have also managed to get Aria into a school that is just a couple of minutes’ walk away. She has her own room finally and won’t have to keep going back and forth.”

Sophie was visited by an occupational therapist who arranged the delivery of a special adjustable bed for her to use in the lounge as well as adaptable equipment for the bathroom and to help her move around the house.

The family can now be reunited with their spaniel Tornado who has been living with Sophie’s brother, Nathan, in Leeds while they were living in temporary accommodation. The couple, who previously lived in Leeds, moved to Sonning Common last summer to be closer to Alekos’s parents.

After the flat they were due to move into suddenly fell through they had to live with Alekos’s parents and then in a string of Airbnbs and in temporary council accommodation in Reading.

The couple found it impossible to rent privately without payslips after Sophie started chemotherapy and Alekos quit his job to care for his wife full-time.

The family were placed in band D, the lowest priority for social housing, by Reading Borough Council and faced a long wait in an ill-suited temporary council accommodation that was not big enough to accommodate Sophie’s medical needs and wheelchair.

Reading East MP Matt Rodda tried to help and Leigh Rawlins, a member of the district council for Sonning Common, enlisted the help of council housing officer Thom Gaunt.

The couple were finally given the keys to their new home last week.

Ms Melioti said the response from the local community had been “amazing”.

She said: “I put it on the SoCo page on Facebook and loads of people responded. Someone recommended Torch and three men came and did the bedrooms upstairs.

“A lot of people responded in lots of different ways. I am overwhelmed. It has been so nice.

“Because the house is around the corner from us I will be here helping all the time. Things will be much easier from now on.”

Mrs Melioti thanked Mr Tiko, who donated his decorating equipment.

She said: “He really helped us. He gave us all his gear, his rollers and his brushes and he came three nights in a row from 6pm to 9pm after his work. One night he brought his brother.

“My neighbours Kathy, Magda and Tanya are amazing. Tanya was there from 9am until 8pm for seven days. That says a lot.”

She also thanked her brother-in-law Bob McGarry and his wife Juanita and friends Ari and Raquel Stavropoulos.

“Seeing people helping and being so friendly gives me a beautiful warm feeling in my heart,” he said.

Aria was looked after by her husband and Sophie’s mother Tara during the renovation work.

Mrs Melioti said it was exciting to set up Aria’s new bedroom.

She said: “Sophie’s mum Tara brought her round to the house and I said, ‘This is your new home’ and she said, ‘No it’s not’.

“Then we were walking through the house and into the garden and she suddenly said, ‘This is my garden’. It was very funny.”

Sophie was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2020 and underwent surgery and six rounds of chemotherapy before being given the “all clear”.

However, in June last year, while the couple were living in Tilehurst, she complained of feeling unwell and was told that the cancer had returned and spread to her lungs and brain.

The couple were married on June 18 and Aria was baptised in order to create happy memories before Sophie got too sick and tired from her chemotherapy treatment.

The family are now trying to raise £5,000 so Sophie can have access to more treatment options. Any money left over will be put towards Aria’s future.

They also need help with sorting out a shed to store Sophie’s wheelchair and mobility scooter and to cover the cost of a chairlift that they have rented for a year at a cost of £500.

“Even £5 or £10 would help,” said Mrs Melioti.

She added: “I wish this story would have a nice ending in all aspects but the doctors are negative and Sophie’s body has suffered so much over the last months that we can only pray and put our hope in God now.”

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