A 74-year-old cancer sufferer is facing deportation back to Jamaica despite growing fears he won’t be able to afford the life-saving treatment needed for his condition.

Lewin Williams, who has lived in Birmingham since 2003, first came to the UK on a visitor’s visa which lasted until June 2004.

However, he remained under the impression he had settled status in the country.

In 2019, he received the devastating diagnosis of myeloma – a type of blood cancer – and has been dealing with his condition ever since, undergoing frequent hospital stays while having chemotherapy.

Despite his circumstances, Williams now faces the prospect being deported to Jamaica, even with no known family in the country and is unable to upkeep the medical costs of his illness. 

“I can’t pay for the treatment and if the Home Office sends me back to Jamaica, I will die because I can’t afford it,” he told The Mirror.

“I don’t try to hurt anyone, I just keep myself to myself and I don’t want any trouble. I’ve never been to a court – since I came to England and I have to go because of immigration – that’s the only time I know the inside of a court.

“The only thinking I had in me is ‘how will I make it and when am I going to pass away?’ I kept praying and praying. I just keep going.”

After submitting his first application to remain in the UK in September 2019, citing his medical condition as a means to stay, he was still refused permanent residency in December that year.

Although Williams has been given permission by the court to appeal, he remains concerned that his case will fall through and endure going back the Caribbean island with no support, despite documents stating that healthcare facilities in the UK and Jamaica as “substandard”.

Speaking to The Mirror, Salman Mirza from Migrant Voice, Lewin’s case worker, said: “Here we have an elderly man from Jamaica who has been in the UK for over 18 years and has cancer, how could any decent human being not want him to get life saving treatment.”

Williams has been a positive force in his community while living in Acocks Green; doing gardening for local residents for extra money and even attending New Testament Church of God in Highgate.

Pastor Sheryl Lindo-Mason, Minister of Religion at the church told The Mirror: “Lewin first came to our church three or four years ago. He was a regular attendant at the church. However we lost contact with him. But we soon realised he was very poorly and at the hospital for a long time.

“During the lockdown, we maintained contact with him as he was one of those people we provided meals for,” she added.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not routinely comment on individual cases. All visa cases are considered according to their merits.”