Leeann's Race for Life

Cancer is happening right now, which is why I'm taking part in a Race for Life 5k to raise money and save lives. 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Every single pound you donate makes a difference to Cancer Research UK’s groundbreaking work, so please sponsor me now. Just over 3 year ago our world was turned upside down when our beloved mum and gran was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, like the true warrior our mum was she went through a major operation called the whipple operation which was then followed by chemotherapy. Wee Annie which she was affectionately known as, took all this in her stride as she often did with everything in life, not long after finishing chemo she was back at work and not allowing cancer to rule her life. The next few years went well and mum kept in good health attended her check ups regularly and had no issues, this was up until the start of last year when she began to experience pain in and around her ribcage, this brought along several trips back and forth to the doctors with her finally being admitted for several weeks in Monklands hospital. After weeks of being in hospital we had the devastating news that the cancer had returned, as usual my mum had the attitude she beat it once she would do it again. Unfortunately after a visit to see the consultant she was under the first time we were given the devastating news it wasn't to be, the cancer was terminal and the best they could do was offer pallative chemo to keep it at bay as long as possible. The chemo was to be a very aggressive chemo this time and would take a lot out of her, she would lose her hair and be very sick, though like many times before mum defied the odds and never lost her hair and whilst the chemo took a lot out of her she never gave in and continued to watch her grandkids and live her life the way she wanted as much as possible. The last chemo session was completed on the 5th October 2018 and not long after this things started to change, the pain got worse and mum found it more and more increasingly difficult to eat, after a blast of radiotherapy in December things took a massive turn and mum could no longer walk and after a few days in hospital we were told to take mum home and make her comfortable as she had only a few weeks left. This was the week before Christmas and my mum's aim for the past few months was to make sure she had one last Christmas with her children and grandchildren, we all gathered round her bed on Christmas day and Hannah my daughter, mum's youngest grandchild had me read her and gran stories, the kids played away all day as normal so the house was full of noise and my mum loved this and enjoyed it as much as she could. Mum continued to battle on and continued to defy what several nurses said, though less than a week after Christmas day and on hogmanay which was also mum's 59th birthday she lost her battle to cancer and slipped away peacefully at home with all her family around her.