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

Apr 12 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

In a cruel twist, the tell-tale lumps on her neck returned less than a month later, and she prepared for another battle against the cancer which attacks the lymphatic system.

Her dream of becoming a model, however, lay in tatters as she concentrated on her health, even though she had been signed up to the Zeebra model agency in Sunderland.

Sharon said: “She made it through chemotherapy, and on December 27 she was in remission again.

“But it was hard to feel the same joy this time - on December 14, Phil had been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

“It came as a massive shock and the news was so sudden.

“I was going between Toni, who was being treated at the RVI in Newcastle, and Phil, who was given chemotherapy at Newcastle General Hospital, and it was hard to break the news about her dad to her.

“We didn’t want her to worry.

“The day after she was in remission, Phil was told his bowel cancer was terminal, but we agreed not to tell Toni it was terminal.

“It was so awful, cancer had struck twice in our family, and it was leaving a trail of destruction in our lives.

“When Toni was told about her dad, she said she was going to help him through, saying ‘I can tell you what it will feel like, and how to get through it’.”

In January 2008, six days after Phil began chemotherapy sessions designed to prolong his life, Toni found yet another lump on her neck, and she was re-diagnosed with cancer a few weeks later.

This time, however, she was told she’d had too much chemotherapy and she could only have radiotherapy.

Doctors told Toni there was nothing more they could do to help her that June, as her dad was also getting sicker and sicker.

Phil was allowed home soon after, and in September - days after a charity night in Toni’s honour - he passed away.

Sharon admits she didn’t allow herself time to grieve, choosing instead to concentrate on her daughter’s fight,. but on December 27, despite a successful bone marrow transplant, Toni’s immune system could take no more, and she too passed away.

Amidst her family’s turmoil, Sharon revealed she had her own cancer scare.

She said: “Last September I discovered a lump on my breast and feared it was cancer.

“I went straight to the doctors, and it was examined and to my relief it was just a cyst.”

Sharon and Karl are now in the early stages of planning their charity, but are urging people to support the Anthony Nolan Trust and to join the bone marrow transplant register.

She added: “Karl and I struggle to come to terms with it ... it’s a sad, sad loss because she had so much more to give, but her example makes her a model to us all.”

For more information go to www.anthonynolan.org.uk