Teresa Denk is 59 years old and lives with her father, a former mechanic who is 92 and requires constant care. Denk has not held a full-time job since 2000, when her mother developed cancer and required her daughter's full-time care. Asked how she meets her monthly expenses, she said, 'I do a lot of praying.' The economic crisis has spread its pain widely, but it has placed special stresses on the estimated 44 million Americans who provide care for an elderly or disabled relative or spouse, many of whom have already made themselves financially vulnerable trying to balance work and family. Many like Denk, who stepped away from the work force, are now facing ever-bleaker prospects. In a recent survey of 1,005 caregivers, one in six said they had lost a job during the downturn, and 21 percent said they had to share housing with family members to save money. The survey was conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare, a division of the UnitedHealth Group, which provides long-term health care. In many cases these caregivers, who rely on help from the government and nonprofit organizations to make ends meet, are finding that such services are being cut in the downturn and have had to assume even more care-related expenses. 'All the calls we're getting are, 'Is there money to assist me, either pay me to be a caregiver or assist me in other ways, like provide pro bono services,'' said Suzanne Mintz, president of the National Family Caregivers Association. For Denk, who lives in Rainbow City, Ala., the recession has narrowed her options even as her expenses have grown. Before she left the work force, she was a preschool teacher, worked at Wal-Mart and took a class to become a medical coder. But that training is dated now, she said. As she approaches retirement age, she has no savings and expects minimal Social Security benefits because she has not worked for nine years. According to her last notice, she said, if she starts collecting benefits at age 62 she will get about $450 a month, not enough even to pay the $520 rent on the apartment she shares with her father. Even with her father's benefits of $1,100 a month, she said she has had to buy less food -- 'or less healthy food' -- because her expenses have gone up. Denk added that the money she could make working part-time would not be enough to pay for home care for her father. 'Agencies charge a minimum of $15 an hour,' Denk said, adding, 'I might be able to earn $8 to $10 an hour.' 