I don’t care if diagnosis is terminal, no way am I not seeing Zeke grow up
Natalie vows to spend as long as she can with her three-year-old son
A YOUNG mum has told of her determination to see her son grow up after being given less than 12 months to live – weeks after being told she had beaten cancer.
Nat a l i e Sanders was diagnosed with Grade 3 triplenegative breast cancer last October after finding a large, painful lump in her right breast.
After treatment, she was told she was cancer-free in March but tests later found it had returned and was now incurable.
Natalie, 29, said she hopes to be around to see her three-yearold son Zeke – short for Ezekiel
grow up despite being told she has six to 12 months left.
She said: “My breast care nurse was heartbroken and my partner and I were obviously devastated.
“They said to me that I had six to 12 months but I can’t accept that.
“I’ve got my wee boy. I’ve got to do absolutely everything I can to stay with him. I just can’t not see him grow up.”
The Coatbridge mum began eight planned rounds of chemotherapy but the treatment was stopped early in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
After discovering she had the faulty BRCA gene, a planned double mastectomy also had to be postponed.
A month l u m p e c t o my told her she was clear of cancer, Natal ie began experiencing pain in her breast again.
She was told it was likely just a build-up of fluid but af t er her pain continued to worsen, a consultant sent her for an ultrasound, mammogram, biopsy and CT scan in September.
Natalie and her partner Idress Mohammad were horrified when told the cancer had returned.
Natalie said: “That pain kind of came and went on and off for a good few months. It wasn’t after a until mid- August that I started getting a shooting pain. “My breast started to feel different. “A week later, I called my consultant because I was starting to get considerable more pain and having to take stronger medication. “I ended up calling NHS 24 while waiting for my appointment and they thought I may have mastitis so gave me antibiotics. “But when my consultant had a feel, she said it wasn’t mastitis and they needed to look into it further, so sent me for an ultrasound. “That then l ed to a mammogram, which led to a biopsy which then led to a CT scan all on the same day.
“I was supposed to see my consultant on the Tuesday but I got a phone call from my breast care nurse on the Monday night.
“She asked if I was going by myself, which I was because you’re not really allowed anyone in just now, but she said I should bring my partner with me.
“Right away, I just knew it didn’t look good.
“When I went in the next morning, I knew straight away and I said, ‘It’s back, isn’t it?’ and my consultant said it was.
“I begged her to tell me that it wasn’t Stage 4 but she burst out crying because I was really close to her and she was completely heartbroken.
“That kind of warms my heart because I just know I’ve been looked after by somebody who really did everything they could.”
A fundraiser has been launched to help find an alternative treatment that will increase the amount of time Natalie has with Zeke.