Meet Emma and her husband Sean story
Everyone touched by cancer has a story—one filled with fear, hope and courage. Whilst sufferers have many things in common, no two journeys are the same. Aside from treatment, cancer has lasting effects on people’s lives. WOLO Foundation are here to support you on your cancer journey.
Meet Emma and her husband Sean. WOLO Foundation are supporting her and her family. She’s married and has 3 children - here’s her current situation - we want to say ‘story’ but she’s living it now so its not really. It’s life….
‘After more than 6 months of trying to establish the reasons for my change in bowel habits and extreme fatigue I was finally diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer in August 2018 which had already spread to my Liver and Lungs. At the age of 46 this came as a complete shock and completely changed our lives.
My Cancer is not curable and only palliative care is being offered. I am married to Sean and we have 3 children now aged 25, 22 and 15. Sean and I were both working full time and life was quite settled and we were comfortable financially.
After my diagnosis Sean and I had to both give up work as I started intense chemotherapy straight away and we found ourselves in financial difficulty very quickly and having to rely on the benefits system which was a minefield. As we rented our property we also had to join a social housing list as we could no longer afford to live in our home. All of these major changes in such a short space of time have had a huge impact on us all.
In November 2018 I had a liver resection to try and cut out the majority of my Liver Cancer followed by Bowel surgery in February 2019 and continuous chemotherapy all the way through. I have just had my first liver ablation as my Cancer is relentless and will keep growing back, but I have a wonderful team looking after me fighting the fire!!
I first met Fler at a Baby and Toddler event in Seaford where Wolo had a stand but we are very proud people and after looking into the work they were doing decided at that time, we felt that there were many more deserving people than us that were benefiting from their help.
However, as time went on I decided to contact Fler at WOLO as I thought there may be some family things like days out etc that they be able to help with and Fler would often just message me to see how I was and how things were going with us all. Fler was able to put me in touch with a pension’s advisor, offer reiki treatments and even pay for a day out for us as a family!
Then COVID-19 hit and all of the things we had planned again had changed pretty much overnight but Fler and Justin continued to find ways in which they could help us and started to arrange food packages, delivered to our door for us very generously organised by local businesses which have been so gratefully received.
These food parcels usually have a small treat for the family like a game or colouring pencils, fresh fish, bread, fruit and veg, usually a sweet treat and some flowers.
What is also nice is that it when Justin delivers our parcel it gives Sean a chance to have a chat with another male who understands how hard it is as a partner/carer of someone going through cancer and the challenges they face.
Nothing is too much trouble for Fler and Justin and they are such nice, genuine people who completely understand how lives are changed overnight due to a Cancer diagnosis.
We are so grateful to WOLO who have continued to offer such great support in the most difficult of times. Thank you!!’
@Wolo Foundation help families living in Sussex through their cancer journeys. We offer support by offering practical help to make their day-to-day lives easier. We work with local businesses and communities to offer families a wealth of services to support them through their diagnosis, treatment and beyond.
Statistics show that 1 in 2 people in the UK born after 1960 will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Life is precious - we need to make the most of it - we only live once - WOLO!