A MOTHER who has devoted her life to looking after her severely disabled son said she is angry that she must prove she is depressed to earn her first week off in five years.

Angela Norris, 51, of Vicarage Road in Leyton, said she feels suicidal and needs a short rest from caring for her 34-year-old son Elvis, who also has Downs syndrome, autism and is partially deaf.

But she claims she has been told she must provide a doctor's certificate before being provided with respite care.

Miss Norris said she has faced a long battle to get a break and was told it would cost around £4,000 a week to provide cover.

She added: "It's getting unbearable. I'm depressed, I feel isolated and disturbed by never-ending thoughts of suicide. Every way I turn I come up against a brick wall.

"Elvis needs a break from me too, it's not easy living with a depressive. I feel like death warmed up sometimes. I love him so deeply but five years without any break is too much to bear.

"If I was a professional worker I could just book time off."

According to Carers UK, carers save the economy £119 billion a year by looking after loved ones for nothing, a figure which equates to £18,473 per carer.

Elvis spends one weekend a month at Pashun Outreach Services, a care centre in Sutherland Road, Walthamstow, but his mother spends this time cleaning his room and the house.

He also finds it hard to trust all the carers, and often refuses to go to the centre's day care service.

Then it falls to Miss Norris to clean, clothe and feed him each day, watching over him constantly, as well as getting up repeatedly each night to tend to him.

She said: "He keeps thinking I'm angry at him and I'm not.

"He says 'sorry Mummy, sorry Mummy', but he's done nothing wrong, I'm just so stressed.

"It's even affecting my faith because I think how can I be a Christian when I feel such anger and pain?"

The Guardian has asked Pashun Outreach Services for comment.

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