Mum on a mission to help others despite having terminal cancer
Being diagnosed with terminal cancer has not stopped a mother vowing to carry on helping fellow patients. Health correspondent MARK SMITH spoke to Tracey Williams about her plans
AMUM OF TWO who was diagnosed with terminal cancer has vowed to continue working so she can help other women with the disease.
Tracey Williams, from Newport, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 during routine screening and was given surgery and chemotherapy soon after.
Twelve months on from finishing her treatment, she decided to volunteer for the charity Breast Cancer Care and became so instrumental in offering support to fellow patients that she secured a job with them.
But in April this year the 57-yearold was told the cancer had spread to her bones and is now incurable.
Rather than quitting her role with the charity, Tracey says she wants to carry on in her role for as long as her health allows her.
“My health is likely to be variable, but to continue working for at least two years is a real goal for me,” she said.
“I want people to understand that even with a secondary breast cancer diagnosis, you can still get on with your life.
“The hardest thing is living with the uncertainty. But you have to get into a mindset that when you make plans, some of them you will achieve and some you won’t.”
Tracey said her initial breast cancer diagnosis eight years ago was “absolutely terrifying” and “lifechanging”.
“Our life was turned upside down. At the time it did feel like a death sentence,” she added.
“My two daughters were 14 and 20 at the time and they felt like they were going to grow up without a mum.
“But right from the word go they knew what was going on with me. However, it did cause them a lot of distress, particularly when they saw their mum in a headscarf when my hair fell out.
“I was just honest with them. If I was having a bad day I told them, because when you are living with cancer and undergoing the treatment it’s hard to hide how you’re feeling.”
After undergoing surgery to remove the tumour and affected lymph nodes, Tracey said she felt like she’d lost her sense of identity.
“I felt like I’d been violated,” she said.
“The cancer robbed me of my femininity to a degree and I was never truly the same again after that.”
She said one of the worst aspects of the gruelling treatment was having to give up her job as a nurse in the neonatal unit at the Royal Gwent Hospital – a job she had for 20 years.
“I wasn’t able to work [during my treatment] because of the risk of infection,” she said.
“Three of us on the neonatal unit were having treatment for breast cancer, so it was a really difficult time for the nursing team.
“I made the decision to retire at 50 because I suffered nerve damage in my fingers and toes. I wouldn’t have been a safe practitioner.”
Her husband, John, 56, said he felt a sense of helplessness during his wife’s treatment.
He said: “You cannot do anything other than support her when you can.
“But the fact it was a primary diagnosis at that point gave us hope that things could progress and that she’d come out with a positive outcome at the end of it. She’d get the treatment and then life would go back to normal.”
During Tracey’s time with Breast Cancer Care she volunteered in a project called Moving Forward, an initiative that provides information, support and professional guidance on how to cope with and adjust to life after breast cancer treatment.
It involves participants getting advice on healthy eating, exercise, managing menopausal symptoms, lymphoedema, cancer fatigue, and intimacy and relationships.
“If you are a nurse whose entire profession is about caring for people, if you lose that you lose a part of yourself,” she said.
“Volunteering with Breast Cancer Care allowed me to work in a team again and offer my life experience.”
On April 23, after working and volunteering at the charity, Tracey was given the news she dreaded.
“I was told I was stage four cancer, where the disease can be managed but not cured.
“I would mark telling my daughters that news as the worst point in my life.
“But I will continue the treatment for as long as it works and I can continue a good quality of life.”
Tracey, who was involved in organising special events for people with secondary/terminal cancer, said she will make it her mission to support others with the disease.
And now husband John, along with their youngest daughter, Claudia, 22, are set to take on the Cardiff Half Marathon in October in her honour.
“I’m so proud of them both,” she said.
“Every year for the last four years we’ve cheered on the runners in the half-marathon, and I didn’t expect to be cheering my family on this year.”