Brain cancer: Nathan and Lucy's story

Two years after the radiotherapy Nathan had no symptoms, but the consultant wanted to do one last six-month, routine MRI scan. The chances of the tumour returning were virtually zero.

'Three weeks later we were back in his office. The scan had found that the cancer had returned and because it had returned within three years, the outlook wasn't good.

'I remember the date so clearly, it was just before Christmas, 9 December. When we got home that night we let him open most of his presents.

'I was pregnant with my third child at the time and that Christmas was so hard. I'd cry when I was on my own, but I had to stay positive and smiling in front of the kids.

'We discussed it with the surgeon and onocologist. It was decided that the best option was to go straight for brain surgery in January. It didn't go great. They removed what they could, but they couldn't get all of the tumour, because it was too close to the brain stem.

'The next step was more chemo, but there was a low chance that this would work. We decided to give him that chance and we went for it, but in October 2005 we were told the chemo wasn't working and the tumour wasn't shrinking. The chemo was also making Nathan very ill, so we stopped the treatment and decided to just live for the moment.

'We brought him home and did everything we'd always wanted to do together, took holidays, did all sorts, we crammed a lifetime into six months. We took him to the Isle of Wight - Nathan's favourite place. By this time he couldn't talk or walk and he was in a wheelchair. We were all in the pool and Nathan hadn't wanted to join us, but then he started tugging on his t-shirt to say he wanted to be in the pool so we took him in there.

'We were only back from that holiday for about an hour when Nathan got very ill and we had to go to hospital. He had a chest infection and we had to say if we wanted him resuscitated or not. He was dying. All we wanted was to take him home, but we had to wait until the Monday when the oxygen was available to take with us.

'When we managed to get him home we wanted to keep the mood light so we had an open house, so family and friends could come round and visit whenever. The Saturday after the Monday we'd brought him home Nathan asked me for a cuddle. As I cuddled him he went unconscious. He stayed unconscious for six days before he died.'

Lucy has channelled her grief by raising awareness and money for Race For Life.

'When I run I have a tee-shirt with a picture of him on it and friends and family come to run and to marshal the course. We are Nathan's angels. It feels good to give something back to Cancer Research. I got an extra four-and-a-half years after the diagnosis with Nathan thanks to research and new treatments.'

Find out how you can get involved with Cancer Research's Race For Life

read more:  previous | 1 |  2 | printer friendly send to a friend