Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Cancer blow
Mum can’t travel for treatment
A mum-of-four ravaged by cancer can no longer travel abroad for potentially life-extending treatment after being left paralysed from the waist down.
Samantha Ross has been desperately raising funds to pay for immunotherapy in Germany to give her more time with her children but despite two bouts of treatment the 42-year-old, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2015, was told in May it had spread to her bones, leading to cracks in her spine.
Two weeks ago, her vertebrae collapsed, crushing her spinal cord and leaving her wheelchairbound.
Despite now being unable to travel, Mrs Ross describes it as “just a bump in the road”.
“I’m not letting it get me down,” she said.
“I just want to be with my children and have time with them.
“This has been a huge shock as it’s all happened so quickly.
“I walked my daughter to school on the last day of term. My legs were wobbly, but I could walk.
“That was on a Friday. I came downstairs on the Monday and my left leg collapsed beneath me.
“I went to hospital on the Tuesday and by Wednesday I’d lost all feeling in my legs.
“I have very minimal move- ment in my right leg and my left leg is completely dead.
“I’ve now got a hospital bed in my living room and a commode and that’s how it is.”
A tearful Mrs Ross, who worked at The Baby Lady in Sturry Road, Canterbury, says her husband Michael and children Adam, 22, Ben, 18, Caitlin, 12 and Georgia, nine, have been amazing.
“My sons are here every day and they carry me upstairs,” she said.
“My girls are doing the cooking, cleaning and washing. It’s heartbreaking having to ask them to help me.”
Mrs Ross, of Cordingham Close, Seasalter, has closed her fundraising page and is hoping to use the £17,300 raised to have her home adapted.
“If it is OK with the people who have donated, most of which is from wonderful friends and family, the money will go towards that,” she said.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do yet but I’d really like a stair lift and to make more space for my wheelchair.
“I want to live as comfortably as possible so I can enjoy my time with my children.
“I’ve been overwhelmed by the kindness of people donating money when they may be struggling themselves and I feel awful that it can’t be used for treatment.”
Mrs Ross is awaiting an appointment with her oncologist, but she has already been told by doctors at King’s College Hospital in London that they are unable to operate on her spine to help her walk as the cancer has spread too much.
“I’m not sure if there is something that can be done to help me walk again,” she said.