Family’s DIY SOS for dying mum Jill
The family of a mum with terminal cancer are appealing for help to turn a bare house into a recovery sanctuary.
Jill Boyle, 39, was given between three and six months to live in August after she was told chemotherapy to remove her cervical cancer cer had failed.
The former self- employed hairdresser was handed the keys to her new home in Ayr on Monday, where she will rest up after her surgery, but may be faced with an empty shell of a house with no laminated flooring.
Jill’s aunt Joolz Craig is appealing to painters and decorators to help kit out the new home so Jill can spend as much time as possible with husband Mark and their six children: Elle, Erin, Robbie, twins Star and Summer and one- year- old Mark.
Joolz, 50, said: “As a family we’re all trying to rally round but we’re all working and trying to get a house ready and done on time, thus the need for the urgency.
“The quicker we can get a house ready, the quicker she can perhaps get home into a suitable environment for recovery.”
Jill had surgery six weeks ago, which lasted 15 hours, and was resting in Glasgow Royal before being transferred to Ayr Hospital.
Joolz said: “She almost died last Thursday due to infection. We nearly lost her but she’s battled through.
“She’s back up in Glasgow to have a consultation and we reckon the pathology results of whether the cancer is there, gone or slowgrowing.”
Jill and the family have been allocated a four- bed house on one level with a wet room, which is more suitable than their Tarbolton home which has stairs and a bath.
Joolz said: “They are applying for grants but that takes time.
“The babies are at the stage where they’re going to need to be out the cots and into kiddy beds.
“It’s just to make it a home. I want it to be somewhere where Jill comes home and it lifts her up.
“She’s stressing over the stress that Mark is under because he’s got the kids himself, he’s trying to manage everything without her and his dad’s very ill.
“She feels so guilty that she’s not there to support him.
“It’s been the darkest hole I think I’ve ever witnessed in my life.
“When I sat with her last Thursday and I thought she was going to die in front of my eyes it puts everything into perspective.
“She deserves this chance if she gets five years or however long.
“But right now it’s about getting her home and a quality of life that she can actually just live.
“There’s big companies out there. If they just chipped in a little bit of time or supplies, anything to make this house ready.”
Jill was diagnosed with cervical cancer in August 2018 and has undergone extensive treatment since then.
She fell ill after the twins were born but assumed that was down to the pregnancy.
Three months later she fell pregnant again and the cancer was later discovered.
In August Jill’s family launched an appeal to raise £ 3000 for the mum to be able to create lasting memories with her kids, including a special memory box.
Anyone who wants to help can contact Joolz on Facebook.
She almost died last Thursday