A mum-of-two was told she had two years to live, after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. But fast forward five years, and Gemma Ellis has surpassed doctors' expectations.
The shocking diagnosis prompted Gemma Ellis to quit her job in the NHS. The 39-year-old now runs a charity shop that supports other people with stage four cancer.
Gemma from Manchester, said: "I don't know how I'm doing this. The shop is really busy and I just love it
"The first full day I did made me feel like a normal human being. It was lovely to get up, load the dishwasher and go to work.
I felt like a proper working mum again, I'd missed that so much. I never imagined I would do this. I am really, really happy!"
Back in 2017, Gemma was working as a discharge co-ordinator for the NHS. In February of that year her entire world turned upside down when she was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer.
She said: "Inflammatory breast cancer is very, very rare. You don't get a lump. I had pain, and redness all over the top of my left breast.
"Nobody knew what it was and it doesn't show up on mammograms. I had months of going back and forth to doctors before I had an MRI and was diagnosed."
She went through rigorous treatments, including six rounds of chemo, surgery, and 15 rounds of radiotherapy. Brave Gemma was back at work by September.
But incurable lesions were then found by a CT scan on her lungs and spine in April 2018. Shocked by the lack of resources out there for her, Gemma decided to help others with terminal cancer.
She, husband Ben, 33, and their daughters - Ruby, 12, and Scarlett, 10 - started sending out packages containing comforting products and pages of information. Gemma also created a website, a social media support group and started her first GoFundMe - and locals began delivering items for the packs to her home.
And she was spending so much time sending out support packs that she quit her NHS work in 2019. Her organisation then became a charity in July of this year, and Gemma was mentioned in Parliament and got a letter from then Prime Minister Boris Jonson.
And now, Gemma's fundraising has been such a success she founded a research foundation and opened her charity shop on October 1 near her home in Manchester. She said: "It's been pretty mad, but I've always been the type to just get up and do something if I want to.
"Stage four means treatable but not curable - you know then that you're not getting away from it. I was given one to two years but have survived five
"It was very very lonely at first, there was no support out there. When you're diagnosed with primary cancer you're given all sorts of booklets about treatment, support groups, and recovery.
"When it's secondary it was very different, there was very little information. I needed that support group, and positive stories. I needed to hear about people who were still living normal lives and how long they had survived.
"There was nothing to help my family or to show me how to tell my children. It’s a one-day-at-a-time existence. You can get friendly with someone and then lose them after a few months, while others carry on for 13 years.
It’s dependent on the kind of cancer and treatment and different people respond in different ways, but there’s no way to predict it. Really you’ve just got to crack on." Gemma's secondary lesions are now in her brain as well as her spine and both lungs.
She talked frankly with her daughters about her illness, and they even held wig parties when she began losing her hair. Gemma has run her organisation despite her own three-weekly chemo, and even brain surgery.
Because of a post-surgery infection she has a 20cm hole in her skull, just behind her forehead, but that doesn't stop her. To others with terminal cancer Gemma said: "Don’t panic. Let people help you, let them in and take everything you are offered. Look for positive stories."
