By
Maryon Stewart
My brave mum's fight for herself and others is inspirational
October 19, 2015 16:49
3 min read
By
Maryon Stewart
I took time out from my schedule to be my mum’s personal PR Officer for the last few weeks. She’s 84 and has terminal ovarian cancer. On the day they told her that she’s coming to the end of her life she decided to do a sky dive to raise funds for research so that women with ovarian cancer have a better chance of survival long after she is gone. At first I thought she was joking; but she was deadly serious, because she wanted to give back and felt she had nothing to lose.
She has been receiving treatment from the Royal Marsden Hospital in Fulham for nearly two years. First she had six sessions of chemo, followed by a huge operation, and then another six sessions of chemo. That controlled the cancer for a few months, but sadly it began growing again and none of the treatments tried since have managed to control it.
Essentially, she’s been presented with a really difficult challenge, both physically and mentally, and the way she has dealt with it has been completely inspirational.
In days gone by my mum would have perhaps been anxious and tearful, but instead she transformed into a zen-like Elder and has been an amazing example to us all. In the extra two years her doctor Professor Gore and his team at the Royal Marsden Hospital have given her, she has experienced so much personal joy through her family. She became a great-grandmother for the first time when my daughter Phoebe had baby Marnie. A few months later my eldest son Chesney married a wonderful young woman called Laura, who absolutely adores my mother. Her two grandchildren in Australia Emile and Chessca graduated from university and lastly - but by no means least in my world - I got engaged to a wonderful man.
My mum, who my sister nick-named Ripcord Rosa, did her sky dive last Thursday. She leapt out of a plane at 13,000 feet, went into free-fall and then parachuted back to firm land. Despite the fact that she was throwing up for some time afterwards she was delighted that she rose to the challenge.
