‘ANGEL’ WHO WILL LOOK AFTER MY CHILDREN
AN “ANGEL” husband has vowed to care for two children who face a future without their parents after his wife was told she has incurable cancer and her ex was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease.
Dawn Marie Wilson, 34, has been told she has incurable cancer. The mum of two, from Hengoed, married childhood sweetheart Iain at the age of 21 and the couple have two daughters – Imogen, 11, and Madeleine, eight.
When Dawn was 26, the couple received the devastating news that Iain had Huntington’s disease, a brain condition that affects movement, judgement and behaviour. The condition gets progressively worse over time.
But the tragedy didn’t end there for Dawn and her family.
In 2014, the former teacher found a lump in her breast and was diagnosed with grade three breast cancer which eventually spread to her lymph nodes.
Dawn and Iain’s marriage ended prior to the diagnosis, and during this time she had started dating Steve Wilson, 35.
Dawn’s friend Marie Sidoli said that even though she told him she understood if he didn’t want their relationship to progress, he stood by her the entire way.
The loving mum received treatment and had a double mastectomy. She also underwent a hysterectomy after being told she carried the BRCA 1 cancer gene.
Dawn said: “I genuinely believe this was completely avoidable because I went to my GP as soon as I found the lump. It was about the size of a pea when I found it. After 10 weeks, which is the time I waited to have my scan, it covered a 12cm area.
“At first they didn’t think it could be cancer, as nobody on the female side of the family carried the hereditary gene and I was under 40. But what we later discovered is that the gene was on the male side of the family.”
Dawn was eventually given the all clear in August 2015 and she married Steve in 2016.
But Marie said Dawn underwent further tragedy shortly before the wedding.
“Her father sadly passed away following a battle with leukaemia not long before the wedding,” said Marie.
“It’s been a particularly tough few years for the family.”
Then in March, Dawn found a new lump and an oncologist confirmed the cancer had returned with a tumour below her collar bone – but this time it was incurable.
Marie said: “Steve – being the angel that he is – has promised to take care of her girls.
“Now Dawn and Iain will sign over parental control so he can be their legal guardian. He also has a daughter of his own.”
Dawn said that what hurts the most is that she won’t be there to support the girls when they have to get checked for both the cancer and Huntington’s disease genes.
She said: “When their dad got ill, I told them all they needed to know was that I will always be here to nurse them. But I can’t do that now, and I find it terribly hard.”
Dawn used to say that Steve had been sent to her as an angel to help her get through the illness, but Marie explained this is no longer the case.
“Recently she said that he can’t be her angel after all as she’s going to die. She now says ‘he must have been sent for my girls.’”
Dawn’s main priority is her daughters which is why her friends have set up a Just Giving page to help the family. The funds raised will go towards paying for the family to go on mini breaks around the UK, and anything left over will go into a trust for Dawn’s daughters.
Dawn said: “For me, it’s about giving the girls the chance to bond with Steve.
“He’s relatively new in their life, and I want us to do more than make memories. I don’t want Steve to be thought of as a stepdad – I want him to be thought of as a third parent. He’s been absolutely amazing.”
To make a donation, visit www. justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ rebecca-paginton