Sharon needs help to pay for extra cancer treatments

I am a mother of three children, who are my world. They only have me, with their father passing away when my youngest was not even 1. They are still too young to lose me - 25, 21 and 17. They still have so much growing to do and I want to see my kids get married, and have children of their own. I never thought for a second that anything would stop me seeing grandchildren, until June this year.

At the end of June 2017, I started having some pains in my lower abdomen. I saw my GP who sent me for an Ultrasound scan. They found what they thought was a 6cm fibroid (benign tumour) and a 2cm ovarian cyst. My GP was not happy that I had an ovarian cyst as I have been through menopause and he did not think I should still be having cysts. For this reason he referred me to a Gynaecologist.

The Gynaecologist sent me for a repeat ultrasound and found that the 6cm tumour was now 11.9cm long, in just 2 weeks. He also did a cervical smear which came out to be completely negative. He was very concerned at the rate that this was growing and where it was coming from - either the back/top of cervix or from the uterus itself. He sent a referral to the public hospital for a MRI scan and to their Gynaecological department.

Whilst waiting for my scan appointment, my pain had increased dramatically, to the point that I was constantly taken pain relief medication, was unable to sit for longer than 30 minutes at a time, and was in constant agony.

Three weeks after having the ultrasound I had a MRI scan and the tumour had now grown to almost completely fill my abdominal cavity. At this stage, due to the pain and the fact that I had a white blood count of 40,000 (should be under 12,000), I was admitted to hospital where they did a biopsy of the tumour and we worked to get my pain under control.

After testing of the biopsy, I was told by one of the Oncologists that the tumour was definitely cancer but they were unsure exactly what type at that stage. The cancer had spread into the lower lymph nodes and into some of the top abdominal ones. Because of the lymph nodes, I was told I could potentially only have months to live as it was acting so aggressively.

My 3 kids are 25, 21 and 17. As I have mentioned my children's father passed away when my youngest child was not even 1. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do, to tell them that I potentially only have months to live. To see the looks on their faces and their overwhelming pain, was so hard to bare, as I could not take it away for them. They are what I live for. They are my life and soul and I am not ready to leave them, certainly not in only months!

It was decided to start radiation treatment straight away to try and stop the rate of growth, so I underwent 10 sessions of radiation. The radiation was successful as the tumour shrunk a little and then they noticed that the upper abdominal lymph nodes are not so inflammed too.

So I started chemotherapy last week and I am currently dealing with some of the side effects of the treatment. I have been told of a drug called Avastin that has quite a bit of success to extend life with this type of cancer. It comes at a cost though and I am needing to raise funds to help cover it. That is why I have started this Givealittle page.