Most of you will know, our Mum passed away quite suddenly in September of last year and without the hard work and care from Salford Royal’s surgeons, doctors and nurses we wouldn’t have had chance to tell her we loved her and say goodbye. 

My mums story, she was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of June, but all was positive, she was strong and determined and we were going to have a cancer free Christmas! As it was in her glands she had a full body scan to make sure it hadn’t spread to any other part of her body and these came back clear, my Mum was ready for her fight! She was so brave, two rounds of chemo completed and she’d lost her hair but this didn’t stop her from smiling and filling the room with her laughter. 

As her third round of chemo was due, she started to suffer with headaches, these got progressively worse to the point she was taken to Fairfield hospital and put into an induced coma. They suspected an infection and started treatment for meningitis, but after several scans we was told she’d suffererd a serious stroke and her chances of surviving were less than 1%. 

A surgeon from Salford Royal saw these scans and decided he wanted to operate so she was rushed in an ambulance and after what felt like the longest night of our lives, we were told it was a success! They’d inserted a drain into her head to take away the fluid that had built up around her brain causing the headaches and by the next morning our Mum was awake! And didn’t we all know it, after all she’d been through she still managed to crack the jokes and have  everyone in stitches, including her nurses! 

In the next week we were told the fluid in her brain was because the cancer had spread, very quickly and very aggressively and despite two further operations, the area affected was what controlled her organs and even though she was brave, and strong and still fighting it was just too much for her to take on. 

Without the surgeons that night at Salford Royal, we wouldn’t have had that last week to spend with her, see her smile, hear her laugh! Tell her our gossip and hear her stories. In that week my mum was so grateful for the nurses that went above and beyond to make sure she was comfortable and was adament that once she was better she was going to do the Great North Swim and raise and much money as possible for the Critical Care Unit at Salford Royal Hospital, so here we are now, as a family doing our best to make her proud and raise that money in her memory! Let’s do this! 

We love you Mum!