A mum who battled cancer for four years tragically passed away earlier this month just 18 days before her son's youngest prom, which she had been "determined" to see.
Kerry Stephenson from Hull, suffered cancer of the breast, bone and liver for four years, but died on June 4 after spending five weeks in a hospice, reported Hull Live .
She has left behind two sons Lewis, 22 and Thomas, 16, as well as partner Ian, her mum Pat and her sister Donna, who also has cancer.
Donna, 49, who may only have weeks or months to live, said her sister undertook chemotherapy in order to try to stay alive for as long as possible.
At the end of March, Kerry and her family were told she had just “three weeks” to live, but she was determined meet her baby great niece for the first time and see her youngest son Thomas in his prom suit
Donna said: "“Kerry decided to have the chemotherapy because she wanted to be with us as long as possible and she has two children. Lewis is 22 and Thomas is 16.
"Thomas has Down’s syndrome so she knew Thomas was always going to need her.
"They’re absolutely devastated and we’re all absolutely lost, especially them.
"She was with them every day. She did everything for him."
Donna admitted to feeling "lost" without her sister who has been there for her throughout her own fight against cancer.
She even says that Kerry felt guilty for taking up too much of her time as she went through end of life care at Dove House, meaning Donna was away from her own children in what could be the last months of her own life.
But she added that having the chance to go through the experience together was a real comfort to them both.
Donna told Hull Live: "“We spoke about death, we spoke about everything and who would go first. It could have been either one of us.
"But as it happened, we saw Kerry deteriorate over the following weeks.
"Five weeks ago, she said to me ‘I think this is the end, I just don’t think I can carry on any longer’. We were like ‘you have to, you’ve got to keep going.
“We had some really nice times and memories in those five weeks. "She knew it was the end. She knew she wasn’t going to get up and walk.
"“She felt guilty because I was with her. She said ‘you’re not well. You haven’t got long left and you’re spending your time with me'.
"Unless they came to visit me, my children didn’t really see me for five weeks but that was the type of person she was. She was thinking of everyone else.
“I’m lost. I just don’t know how I’m going to get by without her. It’s not just through our illness, we’ve always been good friends because she was the older sister.”
Donna was told in July 2015 that her cancer of the fallopian tubes was in remission – just hours after discovering that her sister had been given a terminal diagnosis.
But, sadly, just ten months later, Donna was also told that her cancer had returned.
Even a day after her own chemotherapy, Donna was supporting her sister as she underwent gamma knife radiosurgery in Sheffield in a desperate attempt to prolong her life.
Donna added: “There was no way she was giving up. She was determined to get through it. She never once said that she’d had enough.”
Donna finished chemotherapy eight weeks ago and said of her own fight: "It’s hard for all of us. I finished chemotherapy about eight weeks ago and I’ve started a new drug.
"I’ve just had my scan results yesterday and again, I should be really pleased, because the disease is stable. Mine is still, even though its spread, it’s stable for now."
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