Hello Kate and sorry to hear about your parent.  I think it likely that your parents would not want to interrupt your university life; as a parent myself I would not want that to happen. But talk to them; tell them you will come home at any time when they would like you to do so.   You can still have regular contact (Skype?) and as you are only one hour away you can drop everything and be back with your parents fairly quickly if you feel it necessary.    But let us hope that all goes well; your parent may suffer with the chemo (but not everyone does suffer in these days) but you will feel better about the situation if you are able to have regular contact.  Of course it is a worry for you in any event but you will be close enough to come home at weekends if you feel it right to do so.  Best wishes.  Annie

Hello Annieliz

Thank you for your reply :) i do visit my parents weekly anyway and you're right i could come home at any moment as well. I do hope everything goes well, i guess i just feel like i'm coming off as selfish if i want to live away from home when i could easily live at home especially through a difficult time like this. I'll take your reply on board and think some more about this, (i don't have to much time as i have to start looking for housing now if i want to share a house with friends) but hopefully i can reach a conclusion that will enable me to support my parent as well as be right for me.

Thanks again :)

Hi Kate

Before I retired, I was a university lecturer.  If you were a student who'd come to me for advice, this is what I'd suggest:

My advice would be to stay put and concentrate on your studies; that extra hour travelling time is really two hours - one hour there and one hour back. That's probably two hours that you aren't able to study, and furthermore, would you be able to do any study while living at home?  

I know that you love your parents dearly, but this is one time when you must be pragmatic. Most people only get to university once, and what you do while at university has a profound effect on your entire career. Furthermore, you still end up paying 9000 quid a year whether you come out with a first or a third. 

So, I suggest you reside at or near university, where you can concentrate on your studies, but visit your parents every sunday to keep in touch, and of course be available at any other time for contingencies that arise. 

If the position changes and you feel unable to continue, then most universities have procedures in place. I suggest you waste no time in speaking to your personal tutor (if you have one), or the award director for your course, or your student advisor to find out which options are open to you.

Finally, most universities have a free student counselling service. Whether or not you decide to move back home, you may want to make use of this anyway.  And if things get too much for you, don't try to cope in silence but go and talk to someone.