Edited by Toria Christie
A grandmother who battled breast cancer ‘hung on’ to her life so she could meet her new born grandchild.
In light of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, William C. Grave, 38,of Gleadless, Sheffield, has shared his story of his mother’s struggle with a rare type of terminal breast cancer.
He said: “My mum was a beautiful lady. She was a fantastic mum, grandma, sister, and everybody loved her.
“She was still running the Race for Life up until a few years ago to raise money for other people; she always thought about others over herself.”
In 2018 Sue Kippax was told that she had a rare form of stage four breast cancer, and went into Western Park Hospital weekly for intravenous chemotherapy.
William said: “She just braved through the whole thing.
“Even when she had chemotherapy and was losing all her hair, she just went out got two wigs and laughed about it.”
But what started as breast cancer later spread to her stomach, ovaries, blood, bones, and then eventually into brain tumours.
On 12 May this year, three days before his mum died, William and his wife had their first child.
He said: “I think my mum hung on so she could see my son. But she had caught Covid, and told me that the Covid ward wouldn’t let children come in.”
Three days later William was told by his brother’s wife that the hospital had rang and said their mothers health had deteriorated overnight.
He said: “The head of Western Park Hospital came up to me and I said my mum’s last wish is that she wants to meet my son. This woman ran like a sprinter down the huge corridor and came back out of breath and told me they could throw the rulebook out of the window, but it was my decision whether I wanted my child to go into that ward.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I said no. My mum was very ill as she was hours away from passing, but when I walked into the room with the little one she had a big smile on her face, and hitched herself up in the chair and gave him a cuddle.”
The doctors informed the family that they would be turning all the machines supporting Mrs Kippax off, and that she only had a few hours left to live.
“My mom took mine and my brother’s hand and said ‘I need you to be there for your Dad’. It was heartbreaking, absolutely gut wrenching but I know she’s not in anymore pain.”
William C. Grave published a book: The Lady in the Bay Window to raise money for the Sheffield Cavendish Cancer Care, as he wanted to help families who are affected by cancer, and also thank the charity for the help they provided his mum.
The charity helped Mrs Kippax through her mental battle with cancer, and are now helping her husband who is receiving weekly visits to check up on his mental health.
To purchase a copy visit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550840607721 to be updated on further news of the release dates.
