'I've given up eating hot meals to pay for equipment to keep my son alive'

'I've given up eating hot meals to pay for equipment to keep my son alive'Just nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleKit TaylorYorkshireKit Taylor/BBCSamantha Tolmie provides 24-hour care for her son LewisSamantha Tolmie has given up eating hot meals in order to pay for the vital equipment keeping her son alive - and she is not alone. Across the UK parents are cutting corners wherever possible to make sure they can afford to look after their children."I forget that it's not normal for someone not to cook food or to sit without the lights on because it saves energy," Samantha says.Her son Lewis, now 22, is dependent on a ventilator, as well as humidifiers, suction machines and oxygen concentrators, to keep him alive, after falling seriously ill as a toddler.In order to keep all those machines powered, she says she was forced to make cuts after soaring energy prices left her facing bills of more than £400 a month, adding "I can't switch anything else off".She says: "I've given up me to be here for Lewis, so I will do whatever I need to keep him alive."Across Yorkshire, charities supporting disabled children and young people say they are seeing a worrying rise in parents and carers like Samantha skipping meals so that they can meet extra costs.The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says that the government is "determined to fight people's corner to tackle the cost-of-living crisis."Families skipping meals due to cost of careLewis's machines have to be fully powered at all times and have pushed Samantha's energy bills from around £100 to at least £400 a month.She says at one stage her energy company called to suggest she doubled her direct debit to £845 per month."I was terrified. That's more than my rent," she says.As a result, Samantha, from Doncaster, has had to limit her energy use wherever possible.She turns lights off and no longer cooks hot meals, only eat...