In memory of Sarah Jayne Whittaker

I wanted to create this Gofundme page in the hopes that we could raise some money to help ease the pain her family are going through. With every death comes a huge financial burden along with the prospect of somehow carrying on without our loved one. The best we can do is keep their memory alive and try to remember all of the good times we had together. I know money doesn't change a thing but it can help the family to continue to create more memories in honour of Sarah. They can finally get that one last holiday together, watch the sunset, spend their time on the beach and think about Sarah looking down on them enjoying their time.

I also hope to raise awareness of how severe cervical cancer can be. Its not just a case of a hysterectomy and a little bit of treatment. Sarah suffered for years because of this horrid disease. There are preventative measures that can be put into place to try and catch it before it's too late. Smears are horrible and nobody likes to go, but 30 seconds of discomfort is better than years of agony and heartbreak. Even if that's all you take from this page, please get yourselves booked in for a smear and pass the message onto your loved ones so nobody else has to feel the way we do right now.

As some of you will know by now, on the 25th of December my best friend, loving mother, wife, nana, daughter and sister - Sarah - unfortunately passed away after a long and grueling battle with cancer. Sarah fought as hard as she could from day one but sadly we are now without her and completely heartbroken.

For those of you who don't know, Sarah's story began on the 21st of July 2020 when she had a routine blood test. She wasn't feeling the best but by no means did we expect the outcome to be what it was. By the 31st of July 2020 we were given the news that Sarah had stage 3B cervical cancer. It was devastating for us all, but somehow Sarah still managed to smile through it and vowed to kick it's arse.

Her chemotherapy and radiotheraphy began on the 10th of September 2020. She consented to further treatment including a high dose brachytherapy which left her with horrible burns on her back. Still... Sarah smiled through it all.

By the 12th November 2020, it became clear the chemotherapy and radiotherapy was having no affect. It was another blow for us all but more so Sarah - she was in hospital with strict covid guidelines... visiting was very limited and it was such a tough time for her and her family.

Despite the difficult time, in January 2021 we were told Sarah was in remission. It gave us a glimmer of hope - the brachytherapy had worked and we could start to celebrate Sarah's life again. She made the most of every moment with her family and friends, she lived life to the fullest despite still battling the after affects her treatment had caused.

We enjoyed 9 months of happiness and hope, until September came around and Sarah relapsed. She was diagnosed with cervical adenosquamous carcinoma. It devastated us all. Sarah remained as positive as she could for us all but it was clearly a huge blow that we didn't know how to overcome.

On the 24th November 2021, Sarah began palliative chemotherapy. She received treatment for her pain which got worse and by March 2022, the wonderful nurses at Dougie Mac stepped in with an extensive pain management plan to give Sarah the comfort she needed and deserved.

It was another few months of struggling though - Sarah tried her hardest to keep everybody updated, and still tried to keep her children and friends happy but in May 2022 she ended up in A&E after very heavy bleeding and clotting. It was terrifying. She was discharged on the 27th of May and by the 1st of June, Sarah hemorrhaged. She suffered a pseudoaneurysm and was embolised in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Unfortunately, Sarah went into cardiac arrest 3 times that night. We didn't know if she would make it through and it seemed it was the beginning of the worst time of any of our lives. Watching Sarah struggle and deteriorate, despite her constant attempts and pure determination to win this battle is something we will never forget.

Sarah was back home by the 6th of June and was cared for by her loving family each day until the 29th of June when she was able to go in for her operation. This was a robotic-assisted radical cystectomy that removed Sarah's bladder and left her with a stoma. This was a relief in some ways but wasn't without difficulties - Sarah had repeated infections from the operation. It was constant pain and suffering and felt like a never-ending cycle of misery for one of the kindest people I knew. It wasn't fair. Again, Sarah battled through.

In July 2022, she started to show symptoms of drop foot which meant she was struggling to walk and lift her legs. This meant even more care was needed and she continued with the pain management.

Pain management wasn't enough to allow Sarah to continue to live her life how she wanted. She made plans with her family - one last holiday, one last Christmas, she wanted to watch her Granddaughters grow up. Some of these plans were out of reach and deep down I think we all knew this but some of them could be done. So Sarah spent her time holding out hope she could make it to Wales to watch the sunset one last time with her husband. See her children and grandchildren on the beach enjoying their life, being carefree for a short time. But there were obstacles in the way, such as the availability of her pain medication when she was away... the risk of the effect of travel on her body. And overall, the deterioration of Sarah's health.

Sarah never got to go on her last holiday. By the end of October 2022 she was housebound with constant care required. Her pain was getting worse and each week was a battle in itself. Her cancer had continued to grow and had been regraded to stage 4. It was terminal.

There was another glimmer of hope when Sarah was finally able to go forward with the long-awaited immunotherapy treatment she had hoped for so long. This was a trial treatment and she had been told for months that it kept getting pushed back and we didn't know if she would even be accepted for it at all. If she did, it wouldn't cure her but she could have another 2 years with us all. She wanted this so bad. And on the 23rd of December 2022, she finally got to have the treatment.

Unfortunately the following day, Sarah's condition became worse and despite her battling and pure determination, on the 25th of December 2022 we lost our beautiful Sarah.

The world feels so empty and dark right now. It's hard to understand why this had to happen to somebody so beautiful and caring. Somebody who saw the light in every situation and didn't ask for the world - just a bit more time.

She is sadly missed and will forever be loved by her husband Mark, her children - Matthew, Bethany, Jack and Dylan, her Granddaughters Leela and Evie, her mum and sisters and all of her friends who stayed with her throughout this horrible couple of years.