It's my 40th birthday on 1st December 2016 which means it's also 40 years since my mum was given a C-section and a large cancer tumour was found.

For those that don't know I was born with a dent in my head and a birth mark on my face where I was sharing womb space with cancer.

A bit of background about this rare cancer:

Leiomyosarcoma is an aggressive soft tissue sarcoma derived from smooth muscle cells typically of uterine, gastrointestinal or soft tissue origin. They are aggressive tumours that are often difficult to treat.

The prognosis is poor, with survival rates among the lowest of all soft tissue sarcomas.

Against all odds my mum survived!

Both me and my sister are lucky my mum is still here and she gives thanks everyday that she was given the opportunity to see us grow up. I was a new born baby, my sister only 6 years old.

My mum has had a lifetime of medical issues and daily pain but she will always be thankful to the cancer unit that saved her life at UCLH.

When I was born she was sewn up and allowed home for Christmas, the doctors didn't think she would live much longer. A kind nurse at the hospital took time to understand my mums broken English, she had only been in the UK 5 years and explained there was an operation that 'could' give my mum some more time.

It was thanks to this nurse (who we don't know the name of) that convinced my mum to ask for the operation.

This happened in January 1977... No one expected her to last longer than 6-12 weeks.

Many of my mums friends on Facebook will remember that she was in hospital for a long time suffering from large doses of chemo and radiotherapy, she was even in a hospice for a while. Yet somehow she survived and we believe she became a research case at UCLH.

For 20 years she had to go to yearly check ups with the doctors always surprised after looking at her case notes.
We would love to raise money to help continue research into this rare cancer.
Thank you from mum