BEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER
Mum given 3 years to live is cancer-free
A MUM given three years to live due to a brain tumour has been told she is cancer-free.
Sam Gibson’s world was shattered in summer 2020 when she was diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma grade 3 – a form of incurable brain cancer.
But the 32-year-old was determined to live to see her two little daughters, Amelia, four, and twoyear-old Emily, grow up.
Sam has undergone chemotherapy and radiotherapy and this week stunned medics who told her she is cancer-free.
Sam, from Irvine, said: “I feel so grateful and emotional about it all. It’s the best time of the year to receive this good news. Here’s to living life again.”
The tumour has gone but doctors have warned Sam that in most cases there is a “reoccurance”.
But she has vowed not to let that affect her.
She said: “I told my oncologist, ‘Someone’s got to be the first to never have a reoccurrence, let that be me.’”
A series of seizures led to Sam’s diagnosis and surgeons at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital managed to remove 95 per cent of the mass in August 2020.
But further tests revealed the tumour was more advanced and she was told her condition was terminal.
Sam said the support of husband Alan, 33, had helped her stay positive.
She said: “I could go out tomorrow and get hit by a bus, so I’m not going through all this trauma to then live in fear.
“It’s easier said than done but I’m trying hard.”
Sam is looking forward to enjoying Christmas – and her birthday this weekend – after a difficult time last year.
She said: “This Christmas is going to be an amazing family celebration for sure.”