Help Us Give Our Mum the Beautiful Send-Off She Deserves

Our incredible mum, Michelle, has been courageously fighting breast cancer for over 20 years. Now facing a terminal diagnosis, we’re raising funds to help give her the peaceful and dignified farewell she deserves. Every donation—no matter how small—means the world to us.

 

Her Story:

 

As many of you already know, our mum, Michelle, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 at just 33 years old. She bravely underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, finally beating her cancer in 2008.

 

In 2014, she was diagnosed again with a different form of breast cancer and endured another round of treatments.

 

Then, in July 2022, our lives changed forever when she was diagnosed with terminal metastatic breast cancer. The cancer had spread to her bones, and she was given a life expectancy of 3 to 5 years.

 

As she was unable to work, due to the severity of her illness, our mum focused her attention to planning her own funeral, but shortly into her plans, her marriage broke down and that same month, her landlord refused to accept discretionary rent payments, which left her needing to look for a new place to live and little money to support this endeavour. As a result, she was evicted with only six weeks’ notice and had to move into a homeless shelter, with her daughter/s.

 

As a family, we stayed there for four months. The emotional strain—from her illness, the breakup, and the unstable living situation—took a serious toll on her health. Her next scan would show that her cancer had become unresponsive to treatment.

 

It had spread aggressively to into her bone marrow, ribs, lungs, and more. This new form—triple-negative stage four—is extremely aggressive. She was given 7 to 12 months to live with chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the cancer has been unresponsive to the treatment and we have recently discovered the cancer has spread to her brain, which has affected her prognosis significantly.

 

Michelle has gone through so much over the years with strength and grace. But with everything that’s happened, her funeral planning was understandably put on hold, until now.

Our Story and why we are asking for help:

 

We are Tara and Jess, daughters of Michelle, we are currently 24 and 28 years old, we first found out that our mum had breast cancer in our young childhood, and we have been supporting her since through all the above. And that won’t stop now, but we need your help. Unfortunately, the costs associated with her funeral are beyond what our family can manage alone. So, we are now raising funds to help cover the cost of our Mum’s funeral so we can give her the beautiful, peaceful farewell she deserves—surrounded by love, dignity, and family.

 

We know times are tough for many, but if you’re able to contribute—even a small amount—we would be forever grateful.

 

Thank you for supporting our family during this heartbreaking time.

 

With love,

Tara and Jess

Michelle’s daughters