A devastated mum has told of the "random bad luck" her family suffered when her two daughters were both diagnosed with cancer eight years apart. Zoe Ardrey’s youngest daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with bone cancer at the age of 11, then eight years later her eldest daughter, Katie, developed a brain tumour at the age of 25.
Both are now doing well after receiving treatment - including Katie whose surgery was performed by Dr Allan Friedman, the surgeon who operated on US senator Ted Kennedy’s brain tumour. The growth left a hole that took up nearly a quarter of her brain when medics removed it, Katie's shocked mum said.
Now aged 31, Katie lives in Florida and was a varsity athlete on a US scholarship when she was struck down with a malignant brain tumour the size of a baseball in March 2016. Sarah Ardrey is now aged 25 and "doing absolutely fine" after being treated for bone cancer at the age of just 11 in 2008.
Katie was living in North Carolina when she was diagnosed with a high-grade anaplastic glioma, having settled in the US after moving on a hockey scholarship at the age of 18. She was "as fit as a fiddle" before being hit by a sudden migraine that made her feel "terribly sick" and she went to see a doctor for the first time in years.
Within 36 hours she received her diagnosis and just days later underwent brain surgery to have the tumour removed. She went on to have six weeks of radiotherapy followed by 12 rounds of chemotherapy and is now being monitored with six-monthly scans.
Mum Zoe, 55, of Shepperton, Surrey, said: “We had all the genetic tests done but were told it was completely random and just bad luck, but it certainly was a kick in the teeth.”
Describing her pride at her daughters' response, Zoe added: “I’m glad she [Katie] was there [the US] when she was diagnosed because she got the very best treatment. The surgeon who operated on her is the same one who operated on the Democrat politician Edward Kennedy’s brain tumour."
“Katie always said ‘if Sarah can get through it, then so can I’. The two of them fill me with so much pride because I don’t think I could handle it as well as they did.”
Motivated by her daughters’ fighting spirit and the recent death of The Wanted singer Tom Parker, Zoe plans to dust off her running shoes to help raise money for brain cancer research. She said: “I’m quite fit so it’s not something that’s filling me with dread, it’s just needing to get my backside into gear to go out and run."
Zoe signed up to take part in the Brain Tumour Research charity’s Jog 26.2 Miles in May Challenge.
Katie Ardrey-Beatley added: “I’m not surprised that my mum is running in support of Brain Tumour Research as she has supported me and my sister with everything we’ve been through over the past few years. I know that by raising awareness through her fundraising efforts she hopes to prevent others from having to go through everything we have as a family.”
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