Dream day for cancer woman

Just 17 days after her cancer-free diagnosis, Amanda Buchan was told she had less than six months to live.

The 39-year-old had been celebrating the news she’d beaten triple-negative breast cancer, when a sudden seizure last month turned her life upside down once more.

But undeterred, she has moved her milestone 40th birthday forward to this month, and has been planning a dream wedding.

Mum-of-one Amanda, from Dyce, Aberdeen, was first diagnosed with rare triple-negative breast cancer in October 2020.

At the time, the family had been caring for her father, David, who had been diagnosed with mesothelioma at 60.

She underwent six gruelling sessions of chemotherapy which made her very ill.

Amanda said: “Obviously, at the time, the family was going through a terminal ordeal because of my dad. He passed away on December 7. So our family was already in upheaval and then I dropped my bombshell, that I had this cancer. It really kind of hit the rollercoaster of emotions that we were in. So we were all being pulled in so many different directions.”

After a surgery that removed part of her left breast and all lymph nodes, doctors informed Amanda they had managed to get all of the cancer.

She said: “I got part of my breast removed and I got full lymph nodes clearance in my left side because of tumours within lymph nodes.

“And then I was five weeks out of surgery, I got told by my surgeon that I was cancer-free. They got rid of all the cancer.

“The surgery knocked me for six. I had to have a lot of help from my boyfriend, from my son. My son’s girlfriend Kelsea has moved in with us to give us a helping hand.”

Amanda’s family celebrated the news she was cancer-free, and decided to bring her 40th birthday party forward from January to this month to mark the occasion.

But things changed once more just over a fortnight later, when she headed out to meet her stepmum for lunch. “I felt absolutely brilliant,” she said. “And then I came home, that night I had a bit of a sore head. And then I took a really bad seizure.

“I got admitted into hospital and it was the very next day they broke the news that it was secondary breast cancer to the brain.

“The prognosis was three to six months to live, terminal. It was just 17 days. That’s all we got.”

With the prognosis, Amanda proposed to her fiance Daniel Bullock, 39, and her escalated birthday celebration turned into planning a wedding.

Her stepsister Melissa Mowatt took the story to social media groups in search of help to plan a wedding at such short notice, and Amanda has been “completely blown away” by the generous responses.

Dozens of businesses and individuals have come forward with generous donations to make her dream wedding a reality. They have had offers of cars for the bride and groom and a discounted hall at the Palm Court in Aberdeen.

Amanda said: “We just can’t believe that folk managed to pull it out of the bag for us, it’s just so touching.

“This is going to definitely be my dream wedding. It’s going to be bigger than the dream.

“We’re completely blown away by how much everyone cares, loves and supports us.”

PLANS: Amanda Buchan decided to marry after being told her cancer had spread. Right, Amanda with fiance Daniel, her son Krisstoffer and his girlfriend Kelsea Duguid.