A single mother-of-three who has just months to live has revealed she is struggling to tell her children that she won’t be around to see them grow up.
Louise Hayward, 48, from Whitchurch, Bristol, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November 2020, and it quickly spread to her liver and lungs.
She admitted that her kids – who are aged between seven to 19 – don’t all yet know about the heartbreaking prognosis, which she learned of last November after two years of chemotherapy.
‘All of this is so scary – I was never expecting to be told I was dying,’ she revealed. ‘In November 2022, they told me there is nothing else they can do – I was devastated.
‘I begged them to give me more chemotherapy – which they did – but it’s hard to accept I am going to die soon.’
The mother is raising cash to support her sister, who will become her young children’s guardian after she passes away.
More than £4,000 has now been raised in donations on GoFundMe, and Louise is devastated at how ‘unfair’ the situation is on her children William, 19, Faith, nine and Louie, seven.
‘I just think, why did they have to be born into this life,’ she said. ‘They know about my cancer but I haven’t been able to tell them I’m dying.
‘How do I tell them they’re going to lose their mum at such a young age?
‘Any money I can save up for them before I pass will make it easier for them when I do.’
Louise was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer after noticing blood when she went to the lavatory in November 2020.
She recalled putting off visiting her doctor due to the pandemic, but it became so bad that she had no choice.
One day, she had such a severe bleed after going to the toilet that all she could do was ‘sit on a towel to stop the bleeding’.
‘I felt like I was giving birth, that’s how bad the pain was,’ she admitted.
Doctors diagnosed her quickly after finding a 7cm tumour in her bowel.
While her eldest son William, a mechanics apprentice, is aware of the situation, her little ones have no idea yet as she wants to raise as much money to support her children as she can, before she tells them.
She referenced witnessing Deborah James, who was also sick with bowel cancer, ‘deteriorate’.
‘She was on the same meds that I am on,’ Louise said. ‘I watched her deteriorate, and thought “soon that’s going to be me”.
Her sister Rachel, 47 – whose children are grown up – will eventually move into Louise’s house to take care of little Faith and Louie.