It took a chance discovery after a fall from a ladder at work for Karen Beardmore to be diagnosed with lung cancer. Since then, she has been fighting for her life.
Karen, 50 and from Derbyshire, took a tumble from a 7ft ladder while working as a mechanical engineer’s assistant in a DHL warehouse. She had scans on her chest and back and it was then that doctors found she had small cell lung cancer.
Karen was then given a state four diagnosis. Since then, she's bravely battled rounds of tough treatment and has suffered many health complications, reports DerbyshireLive.
Her daughter Tammy, 27, said: “It started in November at the end of last year. When she got the scans for her chest and back. They found out she had small cell lung cancer. Since then she’s been through a lot of chemotherapy, 40 rounds of radiotherapy on her chest, and preventative cranial radiotherapy, all with lots of health complications and side effects. Generally it’s been very very tough.
“She ended up with a blood clot in her liver and ended up in hospital a few times, lots of health scares for the family. She recently is waiting on the results from her latest consultation where they may or may not have found something in her liver, and we’re waiting for scans for that.”
Karen, who used to smoke, quit the habit a year before her diagnosis. Since then she has suffered from a multitude of side effects from the intensive treatment she has been receiving. This has had a huge effect on her family, including Tammy, who gave up working to become a full time carer for her mum.
Tammy added: “It’s a lot of up and downs, a real rollercoaster of emotions, especially with all the health complications. She’s had pretty much every side effect you can think of under the sun, obviously she’s had a lot of hair loss.
“When she first got diagnosed, her biggest worry was losing her hair but having been through it, it was the last of her worries. She’s had headaches, extreme fatigue, nausea, throwing up, her balance is off, for a long while with the radiotherapy she couldn’t eat properly because it burnt her oesophagus for a while.
“It’s also affected her taste, which is up and down in how it changes, one week she could drink orange juice and the next it could taste awful. It’s been hard for her. Obviously we’re all very worried about her. I care for her full time and help her out in the house all the time, watch out for her and monitor her. All we want to do is try and take away any stresses she might have.”
Tammy added that her mother is incredibly important to both her and her brother Channon, 24, so it is vital for them to make her treatment as easy as possible for her. The family decided to set up a fundraiser in the hopes of raising as much money as possible for the family to cover any financial costs, should the worst happen.
“My mum raised me and my brother on her own for the past 20 years, she’s always been there for us and done her best by us. She’s truly a wonderful mum, we’ve been incredibly lucky to have her, and she will always put a smile on our faces every single day.
“She can be a bit of a character, but I’m incredibly close with my mum and so is my brother. We wanted to do the fundraiser and take away the financial worry for her, if the worst were to happen, that would no longer be a stress and it would be sorted.”
You can access the family’s fundraiser here. They are hoping to relieve their mum's financial stresses and complete her bucket list before she gets too ill.
