I've told this story eleventy billion times now, and I honestly still can't believe its about me and my family. In April this year I was told I had terminal bowel cancer and liver metastaces. I had no symptoms, no family history and at 36, the threat of cancer was not on my radar. As an Occupational Therapist working in a Community Rehabiliatation Team, I had frequently visited people with advanced cancer, but thought I had a few decades before it might happen to me. I'm a strong Yorkshire lass, but the thought of leaving my two beautiful kids (Thomas is two; Abigail is five) and husband behind is devastating. We've got wonderful friends and family who have been carrying us through the shitstorm, and I've been a-blogging to help get the mess in my head in some semblance of order (see my blog at stephvsgrantandphil.blogspot.co.uk if you're interested), but now the struggle is really intensifying. I've had six rounds of some hefty chemotherapy, but sadly I've had mixed results; some of the lesions have shrunk, but others have grown. I also have a mutant gene to add to the mix, which means my cancer is a really aggressive type.

We've been discussing options with my Oncologist, who thinks that a procedure called SIRT (selective internal radiation therapy) is the next logical step in my treatment; it's not going to cure me, but might just give me a few extra months with those I love. Sadly this treatment was previously funded by the NHS, but this stopped in April (typical!!), so now we are desperately trying to raise funds to go towards the treatment which costs around £30,000.

We would be immensely grateful for any contribution towards our fundraising target (however small); we continue to be amazed by the love, support and generosity people have shown us.

Thank you for reading...

Steph x