FAMILY
a year later and had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery from which she is now recovering well. “The journey has been tough but the tears haven’t always been of sadness – there have been unexpected rewards and, as strange as it sounds, I think cancer has made me better,” she says.
Amanda
Ten months after diagnosis, Gracie was given the all clear and six years later is pictured laughing and playing with her three-year-old son, Roux.
As the month of love, February’s
star, Amanda, wanted to share how the unconditional bond with her own young son, Liam, had been strengthened by her battle with breast cancer. When she was diagnosed last June, Amanda’s first thought was how she was going to beat it for the sake of Liam as she knew it would turn his world upside down.
Amanda
As the oldest lady of the group, September’s star, Barbara, celebrates her 80th birthday with her closest family and friends who say she has been the backbone of their brood and put their problems before her own health issues. While April highlights the youngest, Gracie, who was diagnosed with the rare spindle cell sarcoma aged just 18; a cancer which generally affects people over 40. Due to its aggressive nature, there was no time to harvest any of Gracie’s eggs and she was faced with the fact she may never be able to have a family of her own.
Barbara
Within weeks, while her friends were going out and enjoying their youth, Gracie was spending nine weeks at a time at Weston Park’s dedicated teenage cancer unit, battling constant infections throughout. Her hair started to fall out and she was getting hot flushes similar to menopausal women. But states the teen unit were fantastic throughout the tears and the laughs.
Gracie
Treatment wasn’t straightforward for Amanda. After a lumpectomy in August 2017 to remove the cancer, she was told she still had pre- cancerous cells which had spread into her lymph nodes so would need further surgery. Before this was due to take place in October, Amanda developed a stomach ulcer and septicaemia which pushed back her treatment. However, in February she started chemotherapy and radiotherapy which finished this summer. Throughout everything, Amanda says it was hope and the love of her son which kept her fighting and their photos solidify their relief that they can continue to make happy memories together.
“I longed for better days to come and hoped for light beyond the storm. I was a lot stronger than I gave myself credit for but I had no choice as this was one battle I wasn’t going to lose,” she says. For Mrs August, Anne-Marie, it was her Christian faith which kept her going her throughout breast cancer journey. Anne-Marie faced an eight-month treatment plan when diagnosed with grade three breast cancer but had her husband
Mary
Martyn and their two children by her side every step of the way – along with the guidance of a supreme being.
“I have become so aware of how the resilience of the human spirit can rise in the most desperate of circumstances and I believe God has kept me from despair and delivered me from fear. The battle I am winning is within myself to embrace life anew,” she says.
Anne-Marie
‘‘Angie wanted to use the calendar as a platform to highlight the importance of genetic screening’’
‘‘ Amanda’s first thought was how she was going to beat it for the sake of Liam as she knew it would turn his world upside down’’
Cancer will affect one in three of us during our lives and it is no surprise some of those involved in the calendar shoot have had other family members battle the disease, too.
Christine
which spread and developed into a secondary brain tumour. Afterwards, both sisters were genetically tested with Angie finding she was a carrier of the BRAC 1 gene and so had a higher chance of developing the same breast and ovarian cancers like her mum. Luckily, Paula doesn’t carry the same gene.
Aged 40, Angie decided to have a full hysterectomy and double mastectomy and wanted to use the calendar as a platform to highlight the importance of genetic screening. “People say it was a brave decision but it wasn’t - to me, there was no choice. My mum gave me the best gift, the gift of prior knowledge and the chance to make sure my own family don’t suffer like she did,” she says.
Christine, who graces March’s page with her daughter Helen, lost her husband Howard to throat cancer in 2015 and has heartbreakingly battled cancer six times herself. While October’s Mary was diagnosed with breast cancer at a routine mammogram in 2011, two years to the month after her daughter Clare faced the same disease herself.
But for Angie, who appears with her sister Paula for November’s shoot, her mother’s own cancer trials and tribulations served as a blessing in disguise. Angie and Paula lost their mum 11 years ago after a tragic battle with both breast and ovarian cancer
As we face another year ahead, the people featured in this inspiring calendar serve as a reminder that, no matter what life throws at us, tomorrow is another day, another chapter to be written in the book of life. Some journeys are easier than others, but with storms can be weathered with the love, support and courage of those closest to us.
To help support Gail and Donna’s pledge to Weston Park Cancer Charity, you can purchase a calendar from the Carol Ann Fashion Shop at 127 Bawtry Road, Wickersley or directly from the WPCC website
www.westonpark.org.uk for £15.00 each plus £1.95 postage and packaging
Angie
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