UPDATE: when i created this fundraiser i felt bad asking for help and pulled it down. Life has taken a drastic turn and now i am in desperate need. See bottom of story for update and graphic photos.

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About a year ago i started to get really sick and because of covid, I couldnt get to see my doctor face to face. I self diagnosed and came to the conclusion is was a dairy allergy. I cut everything from my diet but nothing changed. The pains in my abdomen just grew worse and got horrendous when i ate. Eventually I had to cut solid food from my diet whilst I was out working as the pain would cause me to be sick, even when driving. I cover all our stores between St Andrews & Penzance so can drive up to 3500 every 4 weeks.

The final straw was on the way to my head office one morning. I was on the M6 stuck in standstill traffic due to a crash, the pains started. I couldnt do anything but sit in absolute agony, crying and throwing up all over myself. In tears i called the health centre and a new GP agreed to see me that same day. I was placed on something called a ‘2 week pathway’ which is when they believe something sinister is going on. I was in the hospital for a Colonoscopy within days!

They located 8 tumours in my bowels causing a stricture. They were in shock that my symptoms had only been going on for less than a year with what they were looking at. I was sent for a full body CT scan as they couldnt get passed the stricture and had to make sure nothing even worse was on the other side. Biopsies taken of the tumours showed they were benign so that was good news!

I was then removed off the 2 week pathway and told i had ‘nothing to worry about’ as it was not cancer… fortunately i didnt accept these words and demanded the Dr look at my results again and do something FAST as i couldnt take life like this anymore. This was back in October 2021.

The CT scan flagged up a lump in my breast and I had to have surgery on the 20th December 2021 to remove this and the surrounding tissue. This was a Phyllodes tumour, thankfully benign too! 23rd December i was then diagnosed with Covid 19. That was Christmas over! 10 days in bed feeling absolutely rotten! Grandchildren upset thinking Nanny was going to die from the corona virus they have heard about at school.

Yesterday (19th January 2022) I had another Colonoscopy and this time it was agreed that i have part of my bowel, due to the tumours & scarring, thats narrowed to the size of a pin head. Meaning anything going into my body can not come out, therefore causing horrendous pain and sickness.

My quality of life has gotten so bad, i no longer can take solid food, living on soup & meal replacement shakes and pain killers. I am severely anemic but cant take the Iron tablets the doctors are trying to force me to take. If you have ever had to take them, you will know what they do. My mind & body are exhausted and just need a break from all this mess.

This damage can not be repaired so they will be operating to remove this section of my bowel in February/March 2022 and i will have to take 4-6 weeks off work. I have never asked anyone for help before but i see no other option right now and I need to not worry financially whilst i recover from this major surgery.

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Update: Surgery happened on 7th March 2022 but it all went very wrong on that operating table and i was woken on the 8th to inform me i had been fitted with a stoma bag. Hysterical is an understatemen! What the hell happened?? I was so sick, they thought i had sepsis and a lung infection so were all over me with tests, xrays etc. My obs were terrible and they struggled to get control of my oxygen, temp etc. I struggled to even look at the stoma bag and couldnt cope with anything mentally or physically. 8 days i spent in hospital and was discharged with a promise of a meeting the following week to put a plan into place to fix the mess.

3 weeks post op i went alone and met with my surgeon. I had prepped myself for the worse - Crohns and the stoma bag had to stay…… nope! Instead i was informed that i have bowel cancer… BOWEL CANCER!!! What the hell, why am i just hearing this now, i was sent for emergency MRI & CT scans to get a better understanding of the Cancer.

5 weeks post op i again sat with my surgeon and this time they informed me i have stage 4 cancer and it has spread to my reproductive organs (uterus, ovary and fallopian tube) and they felt i was going to be best being treated at The Christies in Manchester. The cancer is so bad it can not be operated on and my only hope is chemo.

My youngest daughter was just finishing her Forensic Anthropology degree at Liverpool John Moores university and was struggling so i felt best that i kept this diagnosis to myself for a little while. Carrying on like normal until she had finished her last few assignments & dissertation. She got a FIRST for her dissertation 🥰 so proud!! My world was falling apart but i had no right to break hers down with me. Being a single parent, i have pushed that my girls have the best of everything and worked damn hard to give them both that. Telling them both what has happened/going to happen was the hardest thing i have ever done.

Arriving at The Christies building knocked the windout of me and i couldnt even walk through the door. All i remember was 2 hands reaching out to mine and guiding me inside. 1st appointment i was asked?! I met with my new doctor Dr Alam, and my specialist nurse Rhian. Im still not ready to talk about this cancer or my prognosis and they respected that. They have now taken over my care and because of how bad the cancer is, my only option is 4 Chemo treatments repeated every 2 weeks for 3 months to hopefully shrink & calm it down, giving the surgeon chance to sweep in and remove the remaining bowel and a full hysterectomy. I qualified for a new Chemo on top of the regular Chemo so hopefully this works. Cant even think what happens if it doesnt.

My port was fitted on the 12th May so i dont need to have needles poked in me all the time (massive needle phobia) My chemo started on 13th which caused all my pent up emotions to surface as soon as that first bag was hooked up. Took me a while to calm down but 5 hours later, the final pump was fitted which will feed me chemo for 46 hours at home. District nurses will detatch it at my home and then i return to Christie’s to do it all again in 2 weeks.

I plan on working from home as much as i can throughout this dreadful time but it all depends on how my already battered up body copes. Every £1 donated will be such a huge help and i thank you from the bottom of my heart x