Eight-year-old’s farewell kiss for her dying mum
THIS heartbreaking moment shows eight-year-old Roxy Fenn kissing her dying mother a few days before she lost her battle with breast cancer.
Roxy is now an orphan following the death of her mother Vicky, who died in a hospice last Wednesday. She was 38.
Vicky, who lived in Benfleet, Essex, was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2016.
It was a year after her partner Bob, who was Roxy’s father, died when he suffered complications after triple heart bypass surgery. He was 55.
Their loving daughter will now live with Vicky’s sister Teresa, 41. “It’s a completely new life for her, a new home, new family, new school. But she is being very brave,” said the mother-of-two from Cambridgeshire.
She said of Vicky’s strength: “Over the last two years, even after Bob died, she never once said ‘poor me’. It was all about what’s best for Roxy.”
Teresa has vowed to carry on Vicky’s campaign to lower the age for NHS breast screening to 25. It covers women aged 50 to 70 in the UK, but in England the age range is 47 to 73.
Vicky was initially told her invasive lobular breast cancer was curable. But after she discovered about 11 months ago that she had just two years to live, she launched the breast screening petition.
It has 10,000 signatures and if it reaches 100,000 it will be considered for debate in Parliament.
Vicky said after her diagnosis: “Roxy faces losing both her mummy and daddy.
“Because of my age, I never dreamt I’d have breast cancer. Help our kids get diagnosed quicker to prevent early death.”
In the last two years, Vicky made a memory box for Roxy. “I want her to know I’m always there,” she said.