Memories
Email your precious memories with Amy to beth@usher.net.au ___________________________________________ So the stage was set at Mark Testimonial Roast. 5 Speakers all roasting each other in the name of entertainment for the 250 strong audience. Of course sat centre stage, guest of honour was the untouchable Princess Amy, armed with a bottle of wine and the sweet smile. On the night everyone was a target except Amy – she was out of reach – or so she thought. One of my jokes was aimed at Steeler player Gord Baldwin, but for it to be funny I had to set about and openly attack the princess to distract from the punch line aimed at Gord. I questioned her illness, mocked her drug taking and to the silence of the room set about her. The room was so quiet. It had...
Chapter 3
Amy went to an appointment at Weston Park on 12th February 2015, where she was told that her tumours had now reached the stage where they were behaving so aggressively that there was no more treatment available. The priority for the doctors was now to keep her as comfortable as possible. Obviously this wasn’t the news anyone wanted, and Amy was determined to continue her fight, and we requested an appointment with specialists in London at the The Royal Marsden Hospital; on the 9th March we travelled down. But they confirmed what the Sheffield doctors had said. Amy’s health deteriorated almost immediately after the appointment. Amy’s favourite quote throughout her battle was- “Hope is stronger than fear” And I believe taking away her...
Chapter 2
Unfortunately, after a happy summer, Amy began experiencing difficulties swallowing food, and felt something wasn’t right. A scan on July 30th 2013 confirmed the tumour had already started to grow again and the doctors decided treatment would be radiotherapy. She began 12 courses on August 14th, but a few weeks later we were told that it hadn’t been as successful as hoped. The problems with Amy’s tumour was the rarity, and the position. So, the consultants turned to treatment as part of clinical trials. Chemotherapy began in October 2013 which meant that year, she spent Christmas Eve and New Years Eve in Weston Park Hospital – still smiling. Just a few weeks later, we received the upsetting news that the tumour was still growing. By this...
Chapter 1
Amy was a 20 year old, second year student at Lincoln University when she suddenly started with difficulties breathing. After weeks of hospital visits and multiple medications with no improvements, the doctors put Amy’s symptoms down to a possible cyst on her thyroid and prepared to remove it, and took a biopsy to confirm. This revealed that Amy in fact had a tumour next to her windpipe, and on the 6th February 2013, she was diagnosed with lyposarcoma; a very rare cell/tissue cancer in her lower neck. Amy was transferred to Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, to prepare for an operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible. We were told the numerous risks and complications; inevitably being left with a sizeable scar, and the high risk of paralysing...