Nanouche Umeadi gave first hand experience of what happens when you suddenly need care

A COUNCILLOR held back tears as she recalled how her two children ­– both under 10 ­– tried to care for her after an accident left her unable to use her arm.

Kilburn councillor Nanouche Umeadi said: “As most of you know, I’m a single mum with two kids. My daughter was four, and my son was seven years old and became my carer because I couldn’t put on my shoes.

“I couldn’t cook, I couldn’t clean. At the time I was thinking, this can’t be their life. The idea of dumping my care on them for life, that would have been heartbreaking.” Cllr Umeadi has recovered now but said she remembered a difficult search for help.

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She said: “I couldn’t even climb into the bathtub. It was dangerous. So I had to call Camden Council and be like, ‘I need a bath tub’. Proving that I was disabled enough to have it was very, very frustrating. There’s no there’s no rest, and I feel like with experiences, only if you’ve been through it yourself, will you understand. I couldn’t physically be there for myself, couldn’t physically be there for my children.

“So I really hope, Camden Council, this won’t be just like a tick box exercise and we really do something because people are really suffering.”