‘I lost my daughter and husand to cancer in weeks’

Apr 12 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A DISTRAUGHT mother coming to terms with losing her husband and daughter to cancer within weeks of each other plans to launch a charity in their memory.

Sharon Chorley’s beautiful daughter Toni lost her two-year battle against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma last December, at the age of 23, after the cancer returned for a third time.

Readers may recognise photos of the aspiring young model and her mum, of Moorside, County Durham, as they appeared in the Sunday Sun and many other papers during Toni’s brave battle, urging readers to sign up to the bone marrow transplant list.

Hidden heartache lay behind the determination they displayed in public, however.

In private, Phil Chorley - Sharon’s husband of more than 25 years and Toni’s devoted dad - was facing his own fight against bowel cancer.

Talking of her family heartache to a newspaper for the first time, Sharon told how Phil, 61, passed away on September 28 last year, and Toni died in hospital two days after Christmas.

Her son Karl has now moved back to the family home, where they take comfort from the courage Phil and Toni showed.

And the devastated mother, 46, has revealed plans to continue the charity work her daughter began, by setting up the TLC Foundation to raise money for cancer research, taking Toni’s initials as inspiration.

Sharon said: “I’m determined to carry on her good work because she was always such a fighter and always wore a smile, no matter how she felt.

“I want to start a charity in her name now. Her initials are TLC – Toni Louise Chorley – but I used to call her Tender Loving Care, because that was her nature.

“To be honest I’m not sure how to go about it and I’ve not been too good lately - last Tuesday would have been Phil’s birthday.

“One minute I’m fine, and the next it all comes crashing home.

“But I definitely want to set up a charity, even if just in name with all money going to the Anthony Nolan Trust.”

Sharon’s nightmare began in 2006 when Toni, a former Prudhoe High School pupil, was diagnosed with cancer six weeks after heading to London having graduated with a degree in theatre studies.

Moving back home to County Durham, she underwent aggressive bouts of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the family celebrated her being in remission with a holiday to Cyprus.