A student social worker is taking on the responsibility of becoming a full-time carer for her mum as she can no longer see her suffering in a care home.
Lucy Challoner, 22, who lost her dad to suicide in 2007, said she "felt like I had no choice" but to remove her mum from the home she's in after seeing her suffer for the past nine months of lockdown.
Lucy, from Scotland, said her mum started drinking after her dad died and now suffers from alcohol-related brain damage, the Daily Record reports.
She has now decided she will bring her mum home as she claims she wasn't given the visiting rights she was promised.
Lucy, who lives with 19-year-old brother Jack in Edinburgh, said: “It’s been really tough not getting to see mum or gran for the best part of the year.
“Time after time we were given false hope that we would be getting proper visiting rights but it just hasn’t happened."
The family's situation has been made worse by the fact that Lucy's 98-year-old gran Mary Boag is also isolated in a care home.
“It’s been so hard for us. My mum also hasn’t been able to see her mum, who has advanced dementia, since March.
“I’ve had her on the phone in tears and I’ve just decided that enough is enough. I want her home.”
Judy is scheduled to return home this week, at which point Lucy will become her carer.
"It’s not like some sort of fairytale ending," she said.
"I’m under no illusion that having mum home will be difficult.
“I’m studying to be a social worker and will also be, more or less, looking after mum full-time.
"Obviously I’m worried she could relapse, so it’s going to be tough – but anything is better than what we have now.
“I couldn’t live with myself watching her suffer. I feel like I had no choice.”
