Man to raise sister’s toddler son after she dies of brain tumour

A mother has died from a brain tumour having survived long enough to see her baby celebrate his first birthday – and her brother will raise the child as his own son.

Nicola Abbott, 29, died on Saturday, a year after she was told the cancer would be terminal. Archer was born on 31 August 2017, and single mother Ms Abbott described him as “a miracle” as doctors had told her the chemotherapy used to treat aggressive stage four cancer glioblastoma multiforme, would make her infertile.

Knowing that she would not be alive long enough to see him through childhood, her brother Graeme, 30, and his wife Christina, 29, offered to raise Archer as their own son, along with their two boys Elijah, two, and Aaron, aged one.

After Ms Abbott’s funeral, Archer will return home with them under an arrangement known as “special guardianship”, and in three years will be formally adopted.

Mr Abbott said: “If Nicola set herself a goal, she wouldn’t stop. She always told us that was her goal. She had a birthday party for Archer in July as she didn’t think she would make it until the end of August.”

Despite her ill-health, Ms Abbott went camping in the Lake District with her family to celebrate Archer’s first birthday three weeks ago. They had a picnic with cake, balloons and banners at Lake Windermere. In the last few weeks of her life, she saw her baby learning to crawl and trying to toddle by holding on to furniture for support.

Ms Abbott’s father Richard Ryan, 48, moved into her house in Fleetwood, Lancashire, to help care for her and Archer, and her mother Sheryl Abbott lived next door.

Mr Abbott travelled down from Springburn, Glasgow, each week to take his sister to appointments and to support her.

He added: “We’ve told our sons that Archer’s coming to live with us – Elijah is really close with Archer, he’s always asking for him.

“We are planning to go back to Glasgow after the funeral, and hoping we can get the funeral this week.”

He described the last week of his sister’s life as “the happiest I’ve seen her in a long time” before she died at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

Mr Abbott said: “I’m sort of at peace because I know Nicola is at peace now. She was always happy, but in the past couple of weeks, she was the happiest she’d been for a while.

“I think subconsciously she knew it was going to happen. She bought gifts for all the family, and the night before she died she told our dad ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’.”

0 Graeme Abbott with sister Nicola and baby Archie