Our loving mother, Virginia Starns

Hello to everyone that's taking the time to read our fundraiser, I am setting this up in the hopes to raise enough money to give our mum the send off she deserves when the time comes.

This last year has been one of the longest, toughest and most heartbreaking of our lives.

Our mum turned 56 in July 2024. It all started when our mum was told she needed a hip replacement in the November of 2023, this soon became a life changing misdiagnosis. Mum found herself immobile in January 2024. Remaining in bed the majority of the time, calling the doctors surgery and her consultant explaining the unbearable agony she is in and the fact that she just couldn't walk. Mum had to force herself up, to struggle to move with crutches so she could do simple things that you and I take for granted, such as getting a drink or using the toilet. She ended up having to move her bedroom downstairs because she physically couldn't take the pain of taking the stairs to her own bedroom.

It wasn't until June 2024 that she was then referred to another x-ray for a 6 month review. This x-ray showed that her femur was broken.

Left the house for an x-ray and never went home.

During the next 7 months, our mum had bad news after bad news. Following an MRI they found a large tumour, angiosarcoma, in the top of her hip that was eating away at her muscle and bones. Still facing a waiting game in Colchester hospital to be referred and moved into The Royal National Orthopaedic hospital. The tumour had grown to the point mum was given the option to have a life changing, life risking operation or to receive palliative care and let the cancer take its course. Our brave mum had the operation. This was a full leg, hip and part pelvis amputation. A 9 hour surgery. Mum got through it, she made it out the other end.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the tunnel that we had hoped it would be. We have recently found out that our mum has angiosarcoma, the same cancer that mum had in her leg is now in her lungs. This is rare and aggressive. This is terminal. Mum has a short prognosis. There is nothing more we, as a family or the doctors or surgeons can do to save her.

Mums currently in a hospice after a long, traumatic week. We were told we were going to loose her over night after they drained 3 liters of fluid from her lungs.

She is still fighting this. Our mum, is the bravest, strongest women I have ever and likely will ever meet in my lifetime.

All we can hope for now is that we can get her home, spend as much time with her as possible and make the most of the time we have left. However long that will be. We want to be able to give her the send off she deserves.

For those of you that don't know our mum, she is selfless, kind, compassionate, understanding, and charitable. For those of you that do know our mum, I don't need to tell you how amazing she is because you would already know.

Please help us raise the money to ensure we can give her the send off she deserves. Any money donated that is not needed for mums funeral, we would like to donate to St. Helena's hospice as the work they do really is amazing and they also deserve all the help they can get to help others that are in or may come to be in a position at end of life needing care and compassion.

We thank you for taking the time to read this and I'd like to thank you for any donations, no matter how small it will be such an incredible help.