A mum from Salford has spoken of her devastation after being told her cancer is incurable. Nicole Smith's cervical cancer has spread to her lungs and will undergo treatment to help her live 'as long as possible'.
The mother-of-two, from Irlam o’th’ Height, has been fighting the disease since she was diagnosed in 2017 after suffering stomach pains. Speaking to the M.E.N, the 38-year-old spoke of her despair when she was told that the disease was incurable last year.
She said: “I was just devastated, because before there was always hope. Every other time I went to treatment it was with the intent to cure, but they told me this time it had spread to my lungs and somewhere else but I’ve asked them not to tell me where.”
Nicole has 19-year-old son James and an eight-year-old boy called Jack, and is also a grandmother to little Chase. She said that her biggest fear will be who will look after them once she is gone.
She said: “My worst fear is who’s going to love and care for my children the way a mother does when I’m not here any more? That’s my ultimate fear.”
Nicole was diagnosed back in 2017 when she noticed some ‘irregular bleeding’ and felt pain in her stomach. She went to the doctor for tests and received the devastating diagnosis.
On top of living with a horrific disease for a number of years, Nicole also deal with the loss of her father during the pandemic, her pet dogs and her best friend Clare who died of stomach cancer in 2018.
Nicole told the M.E.N: "It was really strange. We’d been best friends since we were 12, when I was diagnosed she was my rock and was looking after me.
“In the same year I had received some treatment and got the all clear, but I couldn’t even celebrate because my best friend had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. I couldn’t believe it.
“That hurt me more than my own situation. That was the worst time for me."
On living with cervical cancer and losing her best pal, Nicole says she has managed to cope with counselling and the help of her family.
“It takes a lot of counselling and it’s a lot of stress, you think that just when you’re getting somewhere then something comes up. The last couple of years it just feels like it’s been non-stop, it’s just hard.
“My family have been there for me, I don’t know what I would have done without them all. When I’m in my treatment it’s definitely my family that keeps me going.”
Nicole’s family have set up a GoFundMe to raise money to make precious memories with her family.
She hopes to travel to Disneyland Paris after falling in love with the place when she visited during a school trip as a young girl. You can donate to the fund by clicking here.
