Cancer sufferer’s heartache at losing husband to illness
AHUSBAND and wife were diagnosed with cancer weeks apart.
Shortly after Jeff Madeley, 71, was told he had lung cancer, his wife Edna, 71, discovered she had breast cancer.
The couple pledged to fight the disease together and sat side by side getting chemotherapy at Macclesfield Hospital’s Macmillan Cancer.
Tragically, Jeff lost his fight in June, leaving Edna to face her health battle alone.
Now, 10 months on from her treatment and weeks after what would have been their golden wedding anniversary, Edna has been given the all clear.
Edna, with support from her children Paul, 44, and Cheryl, 47, has launched a fundraising drive in support of the charity Macmillan Cancer as a thank-you for its support during the family’s ordeal.
Edna, who lives on Cedar Way, Bollington, said: “It has been an extremely difficult year for our family. We were still reeling with Jeff’s diagnosis when I got mine two weeks later. It was beyond belief and we struggled to come to terms with it.”
The couple, who met when they were in school, kept each other’s spirits up during chemotherapy.
Edna said: “When we walked into the hospital and both sat down next to each other for chemo, people would look over in shock. It’s normally the husband, or wife, not both at the same time. It’s very scary but being together helped us.”
But Jeff’s cancer was resistant to chemo and radiotherapy and he developed pneumonia. He died on June 15. Edna said: “It was devastating. I never expected to lose him. Weirdly, we thought it might be me that went first. And while I was dealing with losing Jeff I was trying to fight my cancer.”
Edna was given the all clear on October 18.
She said: “I finally feel I can breath again and start to thank my family, friends and neighbours, who had been amazing.
“But I really want to help Macmillan, who did so much for Jeff and I. “They made us feel special, that we were never just a number, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Edna’s fundraising efforts include a raffle for a stunning handmade quilt, while Cheryl will take on the London Marathon next April.
If you want to buy a raffle ticket drop into the family business, The Quilting Box on Chestergate, Macclesfield, or to sponsor Edna go to http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/CherylmadeleySmith.