Sarah’s Story

“My sister Sarah was a vibrant woman in her mid-20’s. She was healthy, an avid gym goer, was engaged, planning her wedding, with dreams to start a family.

From the middle of 2010 she started to feel unwell with stomach aches and tiredness. The doctors did blood tests and found nothing . Early 2011 her stomach aches grew in severity, she was referred for an ultrasound. I’ll never forget it being described that her liver was like a starry night sky…but full of lesions and not stars, so a biopsy was taken. In February 2011 we were given the devastating news, that she had Secondary Liver Cancer of unknown primary. She was told it was terminal from the start.

One thing I’ll never forget is when Sarah asked of her prognosis, the response was a formal “Well if you asked me whether you’re likely to still be here in 5 years the answer would be no.” She asked if she could have children and was told the treatment would likely leave her infertile. All her dreams were ripped from her in a matter of two sentences.

Sarah started chemotherapy, which she found incredibly difficult. She lost her hair and was in a lot of pain. Despite everything she was brave, and even in the darkest moments found light, teaching us all a valuable life lesson. She had fun where she could and married her husband Danny is September 2011.

We cared and nursed her as a family. She suffered badly with pain, had terrible oedema, she lost her mobility and became bed-bound. The days before Sarah died were traumatic. Her syringe driver failed, the district nurses were sporadic, and the medication to ensure she was comfortable was hard to source with myself ringing around several chemists to find it. We had an amazing family GP, who showed Sarah such kindness and dignity, making visits at all hours to help. Sarah died peacefully on 27th June 2012 aged 27, at home with us. Despite the pain she had suffered, she left us with a little smile on her face.

The loss of Sarah has been immeasurable. Sarah lived her life in the purest way. With laughter, love, a dab of craziness, fun, and lots of dancing, wearing amazing shoes! We all miss her very much and will always carry her with us.”