‘The fear of dying never goes away’
Mary Maycock, 55, lives in Swindon with her husband Tony, 59.
Standing in front of my husband-to-be Tony at our wedding in September 2021, I was in complete disbelief that I was still here, let alone getting married. It felt like a miracle. Ten years earlier, I had been diagnosed with incurable cancer and told I had a very short prognosis. I could be dead within six months. Back then, it felt like ‘the end.’ Little did I know I still had so much more life to live.
When I started suffering with rashes, fatigue, coughs and headaches in 2011, I put it down to being overweight. At 17st, I told myself it was no surprise I was unwell. But then, in July 2011, I was taken to A&E because I was struggling to breathe. Scans and an X-ray showed I had
masses on my lungs and liver, and I was soon diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma – the most common type of breast cancer.
Back home after my diagnosis, while my daughter Jenny, then 17, was upstairs, I screamed and cried alone in the living room. My sons Rob, 16, and Geoff, 15, were on a school trip. The thought of telling them all terrified me. In the end, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But after all the tears, I felt a new sense of determination to keep going – I could either give up and die or try to live.
Immediately, I started to eat better and exercise more, and the weight began to drop off. Then in August, I started my treatment. I had six rounds of chemotherapy and started hormone therapy. Six months after my diagnosis,
I was still alive and more determined than ever. I carried on working part-time as a teacher, and in 2015
I met Tony, then 52. I told him about my cancer on our first date. ‘If we like each other,
I might only be a temporary girlfriend,’ I said. Naturally, he was taken aback, but it didn’t deter him from being with me.
Now, I’ve seen my children get married and have children of their own. Tony and I never take any day for granted – I’m still living with cancer.
It’s been over a decade since
I was diagnosed, and while the fear of dying never goes away,
I have learnt to live with it.
‘I EITHER GIVE UP OR LIVE’