Bucketloads of help f lood in for tragic cancer mum’s unfinished list
FROM meeting her favourite stars to taking her young daughter to Disneyland, Kerryann Harper had it all planned out on a bucket list.
Diagnosed with a rare form of cancer at just 31 years old, she and husband Gillan came up with the to-do list during the long car journeys from their home in Aberdeen to Glasgow where she had treatment.
The couple managed to arrange their dream wedding in January this year but Mrs Harper only managed to tick off a handful of items before she died in February.
However, thanks to social media, people from all around the world have completed other entries on the list in her name.
These include using a gun at a shooting range, skydiving, paddle boarding and being in the Graham Norton Show audience. Friends also helped by becoming film extras and swimming with dolphins.
Mr Harper and two-year-old daughter Emely plan to finish the list by ticking off an item each year. He said: ‘I talk to Emely about Kerryann all the time. I just thought it would be a nice thing to do with Emely, once a year on her mum’s birthday we can have a little adventure.
‘Everyone has the bucket list they want to complete in life. But when you get something as serious as cancer, it puts things in perspective. You have to grab the little positives in life when times are tough, even if it’s a far off dream.’ Mrs Harper was diagnosed with ocular melanoma early last year, but according to her husband, it was only around six months later that she was put in the care of a dedicated oncologist.
The uncommon form of the disease spread from her eye to her liver and Mrs Harper received a terminal diagnosis in December.
Mr Harper, 37, said: ‘She had been suffering bit from blurred vision in her left eye and was referred through the opticians to an eye specialist, who in February 2017 made the cancer diagnosis.’
He is calling on Health Secretary Shona Robison to set up a dedicated rare cancer board to help others.
Mrs Harper was told she needed selective internal radiation therapy but the treatment was not forthcoming and her husband began ‘hounding’ medical staff for answers.
He said: ‘I phoned the hospital 28 times in one month. I was passed from person to person. I couldn’t get anyone to tell me what was happening. When we eventually spoke to an oncologist, who was great, she told us we had “slipped through the cracks of the NHS”.’ The specialist said the young mum should have been seen ‘months ago’.
Mr Harper added: ‘If you had a rare cancer board on the NHS no one would need to go through this. Kerryann should have got treatment immediately.’
NHS Grampian said: ‘Mr Harper clearly has a number of concerns about the care his wife received. We would encourage him to contact (us) and we will investigate.’
The Scottish Government said: ‘We are supporting GPs to diagnose cancers as early as possible, and the Scottish Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer are undergoing clinical review and are expected to be published in autumn.’
‘Grab all the little possibilities of life’