Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
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istraclife, all d him bits of gh the a diffibeen a ke I’m m.” rthday oks, so he could see his mother’s handwriting. Rachael said: “My sister in law is keeping a scrapbook. Work colleagues are getting a demo tape together to hear my radio work and stuff that’s been on TV.
“That’s comforting to me – dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s before I go.”
Rachael also told of letting go of her favourite hobbies.
She said: “I’m scared to buy clothes because I think, ‘I’m not going to be around for very long. I love shopping and buying things – that’s got me through cancer treatment.
“Now I worry I won’t get cost per wear. But I did buy myself a really expensive handbag the other day because it was a backpack, it will help me carry things.
“My husband said, ‘Get a nice pair of shoes – get Jimmy Choos’. But really, they’re just wasted on me now. I’d wear them once, put them in a box and then won’t see them again. Normally, with shoes, you can stick them in a box in the cupboard for years and come back. But now I can’t have that.” Instead of shopping for herself, Rachael tells of taking Freddie to a toy shop every day and worrying that he might be spoiled.
She said: “Knowing I’m on my way out, I spoil Freddie something rotten. That boy is going to grow up thinking whatever toy he wants, he’s going to get. He’ll say, ‘Mummy, I want a blue crane and a bul-do-dozer’. And I have to search the whole of Amazon to find exactly what he wants. He only has to mention a word, or mention toy shop, and we take him to the toy shop every day and buy him things. Then I think, ‘Are we spoiling him?’. That will be Steve’s problem.”
It was on September 3 she tweeted: “In the words of the legendary Frank S – I’m afraid the time has come my friends.
“And suddenly. I’m told I’ve only got days. It’s very surreal. Thank you so much for all the support.
“Debs and lozz will continue with the #youmebigc podcast.
“Au revoir my friends.”
That message sent the You, Me and the Big C – which she made with Londoners Deborah James, 35, who has terminal bowel cancer, and Lauren