A councillor who thought her cancer symptoms were long Covid has died aged 47. Mum-of-four Alison Todd was a highly respected representative for the community and colleagues said her death was a "bitter blow".
As reported by SurreyLive, Cllr Todd's world "fell apart" last year when doctors told her she had terminal cancer. The persistent cough which she initially thought to be a symptom of long Covid was lung cancer and she was given two years to live.
Speaking about the terminal diagnosis in June 2021, the married mum of four and grandmother to five, said: "It's devastating. It's something you just can't get your head around.
"I could have dealt with 'you have cancer', but 'stage four, end of life' knocked me for six. You just never think it's going to be you."
Cllr Griffiths had been smoking since she was 12. She had tried to quit on numerous occasions, including times when she ran stop-smoking campaigns as a councillor.
"It was a habit I couldn't break. But the day I got the diagnosis, I gave up very easily," she said.
In April last year, not long before the local elections, doctors found a 5.5cm tumour in her right lung. Further checks revealed she had ten tumours in one lung and more than ten in the other.
"There is no feeling like it, to find out you're going to die," she said last June. "It's the hardest thing you can ever go through.
"It was such a shock. My whole world just fell apart."
Spelthorne Borough Council announced on Thursday that Cllr Todd had died. Both Surrey county and Spelthorne councils have lowered their flags to half-mast in a mark of respect.
And in a joint statement, the councils shared their sadness at the news. "Alison, 47, was a dedicated County and Borough Councillor for several years," they said. "She was a staunch advocate for the residents of Sunbury and Ashford Common and her death will come as a bitter blow to her community."
Surrey County Council leader, Tim Oliver, said: "Alison was a public servant in the truest sense. She was committed to her local community and making people's lives better.
"She wore her heart on her sleeve, and was never shy in speaking up and demonstrating her real passion for what she believed in. We are devastated to lose her, and she will be greatly missed by all who knew her."
Cllr Todd joined Surrey County Council in 2017 and served as deputy cabinet member for health between May 2019 and May 2021. She was previously deputy cabinet member for all-age learning from May 2018 to April 2019.
She was also a Spelthorne Borough Councillor in the Sunbury Common ward between 2015 and 2019. And she was the brainchild behind Sunbury Flood Volunteers, a group that cleaned up properties and shopped for the vulnerable after Surrey was hit by devastating floods in 2014.
Cllr John Boughtflower, leader of Spelthorne Borough Council, said: "Alison was a loyal friend of Spelthorne Borough Council and served on the Spelthorne Joint Committee. She always wanted to make things better for our residents and continued to work as a dedicated county councillor for her residents until her untimely death. She will be very sadly missed, and my thoughts are with her friends and family at this devastating time."
