A mum was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer just weeks after giving birth to her son Reuben. Four weeks after she gave birth, the first-time mum Fi Leyshon felt exhausted, sick and in pain.
She put it down to 'motherhood' but when her symptoms didn't go away she had a gut feeling that there was something else happening to her body. "There was one night where Rueben was 11-weeks-old and I was lying in bed with a really bad pain in my left side.
"I'm quite good with dealing with pain and just cracking on but something was telling me I needed to call 111, Fi told Lancs Live. She continued: They thought I might have had kidney stones and they sent an ambulance because I had just had a baby and they wanted to be extra cautious.
"I was in the hospital for 12 hours and they took my bloods and did scans. I was on my own when the doctor came in and said they had the results to my scan and did I want to know now. I knew there was something not right and they told me it was cancer.
"I just felt like my world was crumbling around me - you don't expect it to happen to you. The first thing I thought was I've just given birth to a little boy - I was just thinking about Rueben.
"The first thing I said to her is, am I going to die? They said they could get me lots of help - I was just absolutely terrified. I rang my mam than I rang my partner. I just went home to my little boy - that day was so hard."
Fi started having immunotherapy at a hospital in Middlesborough, which has kept her condition stable for the past year. Doctors were surprised at how well she was handling the treatment.
She says: "To be honest I probably took it for granted a little bit - I thought this is it I'm stable, brilliant. So when I got the news on Friday that it's stopped working and it's spread, it's just the worst case scenario."
Fi has now been told she has stage 4 incurable and inoperable metastatic renal carcinoma - with the cancer having spread to her liver and lymph nodes. Her loved ones have started looking at other alternative treatments that are not available on the NHS.
Two of her best friends have set up a GoFundMe page, where they've raised £7,500 and counting - topping the original target of £5,000. "I have my bad days - it's cancer, it doesn't discriminate, and it's brutal. If I didn't have Rueben I honestly think I'd just stay in bed, I wouldn't look after myself. He's been the light of my life, he really has," said Fi, who worked as a receptionist at Jacqui Paterson's Veterinary Hospital before her diagnosis.
"I'm going to keep fighting, we're looking for alternatives - even herbal remedies things like that - we're really doing our research. My sister-in-law, Adele Loughborough, has emailed different hospitals. I really am fighting.
"I'm not just leaving it at this new treatment - this isn't all or nothing. I'm going to see what else is out there. Despite everything, I still have hope. I'm just going to live each day with Reu and going about it as normal as I can."
At the time of her initial diagnosis, Fi was told chemotherapy "wouldn't touch" her kind of cancer because it is so rare and aggressive and is only really seen in older generations. Fi - who has been documenting her journey on Instagram - decided she didn't want to know the doctor's prognosis after the devastating blow last week.
"I left the room but my mam and Adele stayed. I waited outside in tears taking in all the other information and they eventually came out and my mam said 'it's not the best but it could be worse'," said Fi.
"The doctor only has an average of the condition I have in older people because that's who it normally affects. Everyone is different, it could be years after he has estimated. He has given my mam a timescale but she's not going to tell me."
"I have my bad days - it's cancer, it doesn't discriminate, and it's brutal. If I didn't have Rueben I honestly think I'd just stay in bed, I wouldn't look after myself. He's been the light of my life, he really has," said Fi, who worked as a receptionist at Jacqui Paterson's Veterinary Hospital before her diagnosis.
"I'm going to keep fighting, we're looking for alternatives - even herbal remedies things like that - we're really doing our research. My sister-in-law, Adele Loughborough, has emailed different hospitals. I really am fighting.
"I'm not just leaving it at this new treatment - this isn't all or nothing. I'm going to see what else is out there. Despite everything, I still have hope. I'm just going to live each day with Reu and going about it as normal as I can."
At the time of her initial diagnosis, Fi was told chemotherapy "wouldn't touch" her kind of cancer because it is so rare and aggressive and is only really seen in older generations. Fi - who has been documenting her journey on Instagram - decided she didn't want to know the doctor's prognosis after the devastating blow last week.
"I left the room but my mam and Adele stayed. I waited outside in tears taking in all the other information and they eventually came out and my mam said 'it's not the best but it could be worse'," said Fi.
"The doctor only has an average of the condition I have in older people because that's who it normally affects. Everyone is different, it could be years after he has estimated. He has given my mam a timescale but she's not going to tell me."
Now she's encouraging other to listen to their bodies and to go to their GPs if they feel something is wrong. "The two weeks after I gave birth to him I was so ill, I couldn't eat and the weight fell off me," said Fi.
"I was really tired all the time but I had just had a baby and thought is this motherhood? It was hard. Weeks on I wasn't getting better so I was speaking to my doctors and going back."
"I want to spread awareness of kidney cancer because there has only been a cure for the past 10 years. My main symptom was the pain in my side but I lost my appetite, I was lethargic, I felt sick all the time. I can't stress enough how important it is to listen to your body. There was something telling me to go to the hospital that night.
"Thank God I did, I don't think I would be here if I didn't find out then. You must listen to your body. Kidney cancer, you don't really hear of it but it can affect your life in all the same ways."
So far more than £6,000 has been donated and there has been an outpouring of support from those who want to help organise fundraisers.
"It's such an emotional rollercoaster - I got the bad news on Friday but then I've had all this support. I feel so humbled that there's so many people, I can't get over how many people are behind me," says Fi, who says it gives her hope.
"I didn't realise it had affected so many people. People that know me know how much Reu means to me - he's my absolute world. People know I want to keep going for him. I want to see him grow, I don't want him to grow up without his mam."
Fi, who attended Linthorpe Primary School and Hall Garth School, says she can't give enough credit to her own mum, Susan Leyson, who has been incredible during the most difficult time. As has her mother-in-law Sharon Bradley who has been raising money for days out for Fi and Reuben over the past year, as well as her partner Peter Downing, who has been her rock.
Katie and Dannie are already looking to organise fundraisers including climbing Ben Nevis and hosting a charity gig. To donate to the Go Fund Me page click here.
