Writing this is so hard as its admission that this is really happening.

My best friend of over 20 years Victoria Astley has had one form of cancer or another since i've known her and when she has been given the all clear the effects of the various drug therapies and treatments have caused other health implications including sepsis, abdominal adhesions causing bowel twisting, fatty lumps, epilepsy and quite a few more to embarrassing to mention (she would kill me!!!). These are only the physical implications not the psychological. And as you can imagine mentally it would all take its toll. She has even been radioactive after radioiodine treatment for thyroid C giving me more of a headache than usual. She's fought, hard, overcome, fought again, over come, time and time again. A running joke that she will outlive a lot of us because she's so stubborn. But not this time. The big C is going to champion her fight, no matter what fight Vicky has left, her expiration date is fast approaching. Despite her cheerful demeanour she is breaking. Every minute of every day she is wondering if it is her last. George, her husband, is a rock. He fought and fought to get her transferred from one hospital to North Staffs because they had basically given up on her and were just managing her pain. She was at the end of life treatment. Thankfully the transfer meant a proper diagnosis and a plan, well as much of a plan there can be. In January 2022, after 17 weeks of constant dialysis and extensive testing she was finally diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS), a rare blood cancer which is hard to diagnose. In cases deemed as ’low risk’ life expectancy is about 8.8 years but ‘very high risk’ is approx 0.8 years. Vicky was told a maximum of 5 years. Since then (Jan 2022) the MDS has progressed to develop Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). These cancers are developing into other cancers throughout her body at a rapid rate (brain tumour was the last suspected and being investigated further, skin cancer was diagnosed about a month ago with the department which deals with that specifically not willing to give treatment due to the fact well basically she's dying anyway). Victoria is in heart failure (her heart is 3 times the size it should be) and kidney failure (currently working at 38% if this drops below 17% its back to dialysis again) these are not anything to do with drink or a bad life style but purely because the cancers are attacking her organs one by one. The MDS will take her life before anything else but with the other conditions and constant new diagnosis’ a time scale of what time she has left is impossible to determine but is far far less than the original 5 years. She literally has to live every day like it could be her last. Just imagine that kind of s***t show to deal with living like a ticking time bomb. Not only her but her loving husband George and everyone close to her living in the unknown. She is currently on 119 tablets per day as well as extensive pain relief including fentanyl patches, oxycodone liquid, napranum, cyclizine, ondansetron all 3 times a day, along with spironolactone and bumetanide to stem the nausea and angina spray to, well i think it's just she doesn't take enough. All in all she rattles more than a box of blue Smarties on the dodgems. She has more hospital appointments in a month than the average person would have in their lifetime. Bloods taken, blood pressure, eye pressures (oh yeah she's now blind in one eye), heart failure clinic, nutrition clinics, kidney clinics and many more. She's on first name terms with all the doctors and nurses. She knows them all. Think she spends more time there than they do. Her use of a wheel chair is becoming increasingly regular as she has that much pain in her legs, severe swelling and her skin breaks so easily. Joint pain, bone pain that she can't describe, she's thinner than Flat Stanley, hair is thinning and has bald patches, her body is covered in lesions which break open at the slightest touch, constant tiredness and nausea. She can fall asleep like she has narcolepsy. Food is a struggle, soup is her new best friend. Seh is constantly dehydrated due to meds but can only intake 2 litres of fluid a day because of her kidneys packing in. I could go on and on and on but I'd end up rewriting the medical encyclopaedia for you. Despite all this she smiles, she carries on living as best she can, and goes out her way to help me and others.

If you're still reading and haven't gotten bored of me droning on, please take another minute to see my reasoning for this appeal to your good nature.

Vicky and George have a holiday booked for July 13th 2023, this will most definitely be her last. She wants to feel the sand between her toes, see the sun set and basically have a 2nd honeymoon before it's too late. She will be 50th in August and WE are having a party to celebrate. Due to the mass amount of time off work George has to have money is very tight. The DWP are a joke. They won't even part fund a ramp so she can access the garden (which is on 2 levels) because ‘she can access the outside’ - yes but the patio by the back door!!!. They have already had to cancel on holiday (a weekend in a caravan in Towyn) because of money and urgent appointments which cost them financially. And if they both had not got covid a couple months ago they would be ok. Unfortunately things happen. I'm pleading with you to help get my buddy and her husband to not have to cancel this holiday due to lack of funds when it is going to be her last holiday. When you are told you're dying and don't know when but know it's going to be soon nobody should have to penny pinch just to get by. You should get to have at least one final pleasure away from all the appointments and constant medical rigmarole. Please, please, even if it's 50p (or a winning lottery ticket) I will be eternally grateful for any donations to help make my beautiful friends wish come true by enabling them to go on this last holiday together and make memories while they can.

Like most who are dying she has got a bucket list and the holiday is top of the list coming in second with a hot air balloon ride and a helicopter ride being third, experiences she's always wanted to do and I believe she deserves to have some satisfaction of fulfilling her dreams before she passes. But as she says they are just pipeline dreams. Dreams that I want to make happen. The rest on her list are not so important to her and can rest easy if not fulfilled.If anyone would like more information about the conditions Vicky has been diagnosed with please message me