Story
Tamara Mulley – kind, courageous, smart, petite and mighty – died on 30th April 2026.
Mara was diagnosed with incurable Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), a rare bile duct cancer, in January 2024 aged just 27. The disease remains painfully under-researched and cases are rising sharply, particularly among younger adults, for reasons no-one fully understands.
Despite the devastating outlook she was given, Mara became a passionate campaigner for the charity AMMF, believing that “if it made a difference to just one person, it would have been worth it.”
She bravely shared her story publicly (read here), spoke at AMMF’s annual conference (watch here), and travelled to the House of Commons earlier this year to campaign for faster diagnosis, greater awareness and more research.
CCA has one of the worst prognoses of any cancer, with a five-year survival rate of just 6-9%. It is so often missed or diagnosed too late, as it was for Mara, despite her repeated GP visits with the same red flag symptoms.
To us, Tamara beat cancer on the day she was diagnosed – she faced it with heroic bravery, positivity and selflessness. For anyone who knew Tamara, this attitude was completely unsurprising, but still staggering. While receiving treatment and working full-time in Security Intelligence at Heathrow, she remained an incredible daughter, sister, partner to Nathan, friend and colleague – always kind, thoughtful and completely without ego.
Mara never lost hope, not just for herself, but for anyone who might receive this diagnosis after her. In her own words from earlier this year:
I like to say that within my bubble of unluckiness, I am the luckiest person in the world. As challenging as living with stage 4 cancer is, I’ve learnt to appreciate the little things more than I ever thought possible, and realised that what matters most is time with friends and family –whether that’s chilling on the sofa, meeting for a coffee, or even going out for lunch.
Passing that two-year mark and outliving the initial expectation was a real moment for me and one that I’m really proud of achieving. It goes to show that, although there’s still a huge amount of work to be done with cholangiocarcinoma (because it’s under-researched and underfunded) there is hope. My ultimate hope is for a cure to be found. I’m really passionate that anyone who gets diagnosed with this in the future is not essentially handed a death sentence, and that they are given an opportunity to access the right treatment at the right time, to give them the best possible outlook.
In her memory, please help us make that selfless wish her legacy. And we always say that the world would be a better place if everyone could “be more Mara”. So, in life, be kind, be positive and love lots – Naomi, Ross, Sacha and Nathan x
Some Key facts about Cholangiocarcinoma
- Two-thirds of CAA patients in England receive no cancer treatment at all.
- While potentially curable if caught early, it is extremely difficult to detect and is often diagnosed too late, frequently through emergency admissions to A&E (which was Mara’s experience).
- It is dubbed a "Cinderella cancer" due to its historically neglected status, lack of awareness, late diagnosis, and limited treatment options.
- Faster diagnosis and greater research investment are desperately needed.