A new mum who was kicked in the stomach in an attack while putting her baby in a car has been told she could just have months to live.
Sheena Hardman has been diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer but she had no idea there was a problem until she was assaulted outside her home in November last year.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the 41-year-old went to get checked out after the assault at Warrington Hospital and thought pains she was having were down to a C-section during the birth of her daughter, Rhea.
But the hospital visit revealed something more sinister and the mum-of-two discovered she had three tumours in her bowel, with one also spread to her lymph nodes.
Sheena’s sister Shelley Harrison, 38, said: “She was kicked in the stomach and obviously because she’d had a C-section she just assumed the pains after the attack were related to that and went to A&E.
"They basically said where she was having pain from the attack, it wouldn’t really be an after affect of the C-section. It wasn’t really in the right place and she wouldn’t have pains where she was experiencing them.”
Sheena was referred to Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool before starting her chemotherapy at Halton Hospital.
Shelley explained: “The treatment was seeing if they could tackle the smaller tumour and help to shrink the bigger one, and then they could understand what the next steps would be. I think she was just numb to begin with. She just had a little baby girl who is now 14 months old.
“It’s something you can’t really process. I think it’s only now she’s started to process the news that she’s actually not got a lot of time. The consultant said to her 'if there’s anything you want to do and haven’t done it’d be wise to do it this year.'”
Sheena and her partner Chris Hardman, 40, got married in June and they went on a holiday to Ibiza together before the first cycle of chemotherapy.
The treatment was successful in shrinking the tumour, but Sheena suffered a knock back in June when she contracted sepsis followed by a series of other infections.
It meant unable to continue with chemotherapy during this time, causing the cancer to double in size. In September, Sheena was told the devastating news the cancer was terminal and she could have months left to live.
Her family are hoping to find an alternative cancer treatment for Sheena through private healthcare but Shena mum-of-two has started putting memory boxes together for her children and has even bought presents to mark each of their birthdays and other milestones.
Sister Shelley has set up a Gofundme page to help Sheena, Chris and their children Joel, 13, and Rhea, 14 months, as they explore different options for private treatments.
Shelley said: “To think that everyone is going through a hard time financially and people have still got funds to donate. There’s people on [the fundraising page] that I don’t even know that have donated a big chunk of money. It makes you realise there’s so many nice people out there.”
To donate to the Gofundme page click here.
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