Lily Preece

Lily

What a woman! She was loved by everyone and would do anything for anyone. The family were her pride and joy – and what a lot of joy in a very big family.

Mam started to lose weight and began to look frail during lockdown. She was convinced that she had chosen to lose weight and so didn’t question it. Other people were shopping for her, so she was less tempted by cakes than if she was shopping for herself. The real issues were revealed when she couldn’t get control of her diabetes and she had problems with the skin on her legs. She masked a lot of what was happening to her by not complaining and ‘getting on with it’.

I attended her medical appointments with her and the first time the dread washed over me was when a nurse said, “Your blood sugar should be coming down with this medication and it isn’t. So, we’re going to have a little look to see what else might be going on”. I’d heard these words before with my dad. Once we’d heard that, we made a clearer connection with the weight loss. Although, the diagnosis was still months away, we knew what was coming.

Doctors and nurses told mam there might be something there and that they needed further investigation. Later, we wondered why they didn’t just tell us. One nurse told us very early on not to have false hope as it definitely bad news, followed by many others giving us that false hope.

After diagnosis, mam was told on average, people with her diagnosis have 6 months to live. Then the doctor added, “but you might have had a few of your months”. She lived 7 weeks from her pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

She was loved and cared for by her family right to the end. She had visitors every day and really enjoyed the company and the laughter. We laughed until we cried and couldn’t work out if we were happy or sad, but we were sad, only sad.

She fought until the end. She climbed the stairs for a shower for weeks after anyone else would have given up. She refused to use a walker or a wheelchair except for a few occasions when no wheelchair would mean no shower. She desperately fought to keep her dignity, but her dignity was taken without her permission.

As a family, we will fundraise for Pancreatic Cancer in several different ways. Everything we do will have some connection to the number 24. 24 people die every day from pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is an underfunded area of cancer research.

April 2023 - Our first fundraiser is Aunty Rosalind. She's walking 3 miles every day for 24 days.

May 2023 - Sean Grant has started his challenge in amazing style. See his tracking record for his daily cycling totals.

July 2023 - daughter Sharon walked and ran 24 miles with support from friends and family along the way - an emotional day

Please donate or take part in one of our fundraising events.