A mum-of-two has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of stage 4 cancer despite showing "zero symptoms".
Stacy Watkins, 38, has had lupus all of her life and it was during a check-up that doctors noticed something was wrong with her blood tests.
Speaking to exclusively Berkshire Live, Stacy explained: "I had zero symptoms. The only thing I had was I kept on being sick. My son had had a sick bug so at first, I thought it was that.
"I actually went to get my bloods done because I needed to have my treatments for my lupus.
"That was when they saw that my CRP level was at 300 and it should usually be at 3. So that's when they started to investigate things. That's when they found lesions on my liver and kidneys."
Stacy said that she was completely shocked to hear that she had an incurable neuroendocrine tumour in her cervix.
To make things worse there has also been further heartache in the family with her partner (Daniel), and their children (Tia and Hayden). The family has had a spate of bad luck as Stacy and her partner Daniel's children, Tia and Hayden, have both suffered from various health issues throughout their life as well.
Stacy said: "Our son has a pacemaker due to a congenital heart block and our daughter had a heart transplant."
Stacy and Daniel were told the transplant would give Tia nine to 15 years so they always had this hanging over them.
Unfortunately during the pandemic, Tia's body rejected a heart transplant and this was very difficult for the family to deal with, especially due to national lockdowns and Covid restrictions.
Tia had to shield and couldn’t go to school, see her friends or go outside for 30 minutes of exercise.
She could only have one parent visit her at the hospital as well.
Stacy said: "You're only allowed one parent, so only one parent could go which was quite hard."
Stacy praised the NHS however and said: "I love the NHS, they've worked on my daughter and my son and myself. I can't knock them."
The couple's first child Hayden, 18, was also born with heart problems and he had to have a pacemaker fitted when he was just six weeks old.
This hasn't stopped his ambitions, however, as he wants to study medicine at university and be like those who have helped his family throughout the years.
Stacy's partner and her father are all also facing illnesses.
Whilst Daniel found out he had a tumour at the top of his spine, Stacy's dad found out that he had incurable cancer.
Daniel is getting the tumour removed and her father is providing support to Stacy as they both have incurable illnesses.
As the treatment Stacy needs is unavailable on the NHS, a GoFundMe page has been set up by her best friend to help raise enough money for private treatment.
Stacy said she couldn't believe the price of private treatment when she started looking and explained that consultations tend to start at around £450.
The family has hope, however, that they'll raise enough money for treatment and Stacy expressed shock at the amount of generosity she's seen so far, having managed to raise around £15,600, at the time of publication.
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