Sharon Dennis Fundraiser

Hi everyone my name is Tanesha. I am raising funds on behalf of my family to help towards memorial & funeral costs for my Auntie Sharon who recently passed away from terminal Stage 4 breast cancer at the young age 58. The past couple of years have been a very testing and challenging time for my family and I. In 2019 during the pandemic my Auntie Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer. A cancer that starts in the breast tissue and can spread like any cancer to other areas of the body if not caught or treated in time. During 2019 no one was able to travel due to the pandemic so my aunt had to go through a lot of it on her own until the restrictions lifted when my mum was able to go to Antigua where my aunt was living at the time to care and nurse her back to health for over 6 months. With breast cancer, the treatment needed depends on the type of breast cancer you have as well as your overall general health. Treatments include surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and radiotherapy. She had all of the above plus an operation to cut out the tumour to help her rid the cancer and prevent it from spreading. Antigua is quite a small island in Caribbean and access to medical treatment takes awhile so my aunt had to travel to the States to receive certain treatments that weren’t accessible in Antigua. My aunt was feeling better and we had thought that her cancer was gone. We were hopeful. My aunt even had a new job and we thought she was doing well. Last year 2021, it came back with a vengeance. We found out that the cancer had not gone but had spread to the bone and causing a lot of other issues. She was at Stage 4. In March of this year2022, we found out that the cancer had also spread to the liver in the last stages. She had to receive numerous blood transfusions. Drain fluids from her stomach and so forth. She was in a lot of pain and discomfort. Not to mention she had no family around her. Mentally it was having a huge impact on my Auntie Sharon. Our goal was to get her back to the U.K. to be with family and get her the best care possible with what we had. She was doing good for the past 3 months being home and her spirits had lifted tremendously. Then she had a fall which was very frightening and she went into hospital for treatment as her blood wasn’t clotting anymore and chemo wasn’t doing anything to help her. My Auntie Sharon hated going to the hospital. She would rather be at home sitting in her one spot on the yellow sofa watching Netflix, chilling with family chatting out the movie dem before retiring early to bed. Get up early in the morning roaming the kitchen for snacks my mum left for her and go back down the stairs to her room. That was her independence and exercise. She felt right at home. Doctors gave her days even weeks to live and was preparing her for end of life care in a Hospice. She declined quicker than expected. On 12/07/22 after we visited her in hospital, my mum received a phone call from my uncle that she was no longer with us. We thought we had a little more time with her. Glad that my mum and I were able to massage her legs and arms to make her more comfortable. I remember how soft her skin felt. She told me that she made sure that she took care of herself and bought good skincare. I’ll remember that last moment with her. She was in pain and now she’s no longer suffering. I share this story not for sympathy. It’s the reality of living with someone with cancer. My aunt had her good times and her not so good times. Moods ran high and she wasn’t easy to live deal with and that was ok. She was a beautiful person. Stubborn at times. Very very hard working and loved the finer things life had to offer. I’m sure those who knew her knew the person she was. She knew she was loved. Cherish moments with your loved ones.

Thank you in advance for your support.