Mum gives back to those with her in darkest hours
right from the start.
“I would love to raise some money to give a little bit back. I can’t but into words how grateful I am [for] our NHS staff.”
And the mum-of-four has been overwhelmed by the response so far, with more than £500 being donated in just five days.
Stacey, who worked as a barber, says she was the fittest and most content she had been in her life when tragedy struck.
One evening she suffered a pain in her shoulder, which felt like a trapped nerve, but when she woke up in the early hours with stomach pain Stacey feared something was wrong with her gallbladder.
After speaking to 111, Stacey, who is mum to Chloe, 19, Sophie, 17, Geordie, 13, and Anthony (AJ) 11, was taken to hospital in an ambulance and follow a number of MRI scans she received the devastating news she had cancer.
And the following day, doctors told Stacey the cancer had developed in her rectum and spread to her bowel, stomach, lungs and lymph nodes – with the devastating blow that it was terminal.
Stacey, who attended Donwell Primary School and Usworth Secondary School in Washington, is due to begin chemotherapy next week and doctors hope if it goes well the mum-offour will have 36 months with her children.
Holding back tears, Stacey
added: “I don’t care that I’m going to lose my hair.
“They can take every limb away from me, as long as I have my head and my heart.
“I don’t want my children to have a day without me.”
Doctors hope that, if Stacey responds well to chemotherapy, she may live up to 36 months with her children.
“I don’t want to leave my kids – I’m hoping and praying I’ve got 36 months or longer with them,” she said.