Diary of the mum who had it all ... until cancer came knocking

RUTH NAYLOR was blessed with more than most of us. Beautiful, wealthy and a successful career woman with two gorgeous young children, she lives in a five-bedroom house in the countryside.

The 32-year- old company director would be the first to admit that she had always enjoyed presenting the image of a woman leading a pictureperfect lifestyle.

Today, Ruth sees things rather differently — she’s just happy to be alive and concentrating all her efforts on staying that way.

On August 24, after suffering shortness of breath and flu-like symptoms for two months, she was diagnosed with Stage 2B Hodgkin lymphoma — a cancer of the lymphatic system.

She has a tumour lodged between her lung and heart; doctors are unable to tell her what the prognosis is.

It is particularly terrifying for Ruth to be told she has cancer — her mother died of liver cancer in 2006 aged 47.

And it is one reason why, perhaps, she has adopted a defiant response to her devastating diagnosis — by charting a diary, on Instagram, alongside a series of photographs that reveal the ghastly reality of living with cancer. Pictures of Ruth, for example, in her hospital gown at Manchester’s Christie Hospital, receiving toxic drugs via an intravenous drip; pictures of her with a bucket by her bed in case she is sick.

Ruth, who recently separated from her husband, lives with her children, Eva, four, and Oscar, two, in Hale, Greater Manchester, and says cancer is a great leveller: ‘On paper, I have it all: a beautiful home we built ourselves, two gorgeous children and a brilliant career.

‘But after a cancer diagnosis, instantly you are faced with losing everything, and your perspective of everything changes. We’re obsessed with portraying a perfect persona, but cancer really teaches you humility.

‘When I’m in my hospital gown, I’m no different to anyone else. Just another woman desperate not to die.’

Here, we chart Ruth’s cancer diary, from her diagnosis up to yesterday, when she was back in hospital for more chemotherapy.