42-year-old mum ‘cherishing every last moment’ with her 6 kids - after being given just 12 months to live

A 42-year-old mum says she is “cherishing every last moment” with her six children, after a terminal cancer diagnosis has given her just 12 months to live.

Beverly Ryan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019 and was preparing to be given the ‘all clear’ this year, before falling ill again.

‘I won’t be here for my kids’

Ms Ryan, who works as a beautician, said she was “looking forward to the future” before discovering that her cancer had spread again.

The gran-of-four went to the hospital after suffering with migraines, but a scan revealed the devastating news that her cancer had spread and become terminal.

Ms Ryan described the diagnoses as “surreal” and said her immediate concerns were of how she would break the nes to her children and grandchildren.

She explained: "I was hearing the words of the doctor telling me it was terminal but I didn't know what to do with them, it was surreal.

"The hardest part was leaving the hospital and realising that I had to try and find a way to put this into words for my family, how do you tell them something like that?

"I started having to accept that I won't be here for my kids much longer or that my grandchildren won't remember me. It was and still is awful to think about."

Beverly, from near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, said she plans to cherish every last moment that she has and will enjoy spending time with her family, which includes six children aged between 16 and 26.

She added: "I now understand that I'm not going to be here forever and that the best thing to do is cherish every last moment I have left.

"I just want to enjoy time with my children and grandchildren while I'm still here."

Raising awareness

Ms Ryan, from near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, explained that she first noticed a lump on her breast back in 2006, but at the time it was found to be benign.

A decade later she went back to the doctors complaining of the same problem, but was once again reassured the lump was harmless.

However, in 2019 she was finally diagnosed with breast cancer, but believes the news may have come too late.

She explained: "When I went back in 2016 and was sent away I really wish I had pushed for a biopsy to really find out what was wrong.

"I walked away feeling unsatisfied because deep down I did know something was wrong.

"I just want other people in my position to really push things and force answers, if I had who knows if things would be different now."

Ms Ryan said that she should not have waited three years before getting checked again, and hopes her story will help to raise awareness for others.

Throughout 2020 Beverly went through chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as having a mastectomy and, at the start of this year, she was hoping to hear good news about her prognosis.

As recently as October, she was out jogging every day and "feeling good". But in March she went to hospital complaining with migraines and underwent tests, which revealed secondary breast cancer, metastatic lesions on the brain and nodules on her left lung.

Doctors have told her she has around 12 months to live.

She said: "There aren't any words to describe how it feels to hear that. Even now I think to myself, 'am I really terminal?'"

Ms Ryan said she feels “okay” at the moment and is “taking each day as it comes”, and doing her best to remain cheerful.

Throughout her ordeal, she has been supported by her six children and her partner Rob Bradley, 42, who has set up a crowdfunder page to help support her children after she dies.

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