Cancer mental health support in memory of Mervat❤️

Hello, my name is salma and my mum sadly passed away 15/02/2024 after a strong 5 year fight against ovarian cancer at.

my mum had a very rare type of cancer, a clear cell cancer which was deemed a very agressive type. She never complained, asked ‘why me’ or lost faith and positivity even in the hardest times.

After surgery and 1.5 years in the clear, her cancer came back and the doctors told us they were not sure how to treat this type of cancer yet so they put her on a trial after telling us there was no other choice. Unfortunately the trial only made it spread.

It turns out after another doctor’s opinion there was in fact another chemotherapy which we completed. This also failed and they again told us there was nothing more to do, so we started exploring opinions of doctors abroad, it was a doctor in Egypt after reading her case that told us about the drug ‘Avastin (chemical name: bevacizumab)’.

We then mentioned this drug to the doctors in the UK and they said ‘yes we have it but it’s private so will cost £6500 a month’ (2 rounds of chemo each month), we were disappointed they didn’t give us that option and wasted a lot of time but there was nothing we could do so we started treatment.

2 months in we found out the NHS do fund this treatement but they said because she took the trial, it was no longer possible to take it on the NHS, the trial they told us was our ONLY option at the time.

Time is everything when it comes to cancer, especially at stage 4 so we continued paying as they were not willing to assist the case.

A few months later, they told us that the treatment was again failing and she had 1 more round of chemo left to try, however it could make it worse.

My mums wish was to see her her sisters and brother in Egypt whom she was unable to see for the 5 years due to her treatment ( she had lost a sister during this time).

So the doctors said if you wish to see them, you must go now because if treatment fails, you will not be able to fly.

As we are getting ready to go take this chemo in Egypt, they give her a blood transfusion, from this blood transfusion, she unfortunately caught an infection in the blood which lead to sepsis.

The doctors were understaffed and unbothered to be honest, just continued to give pain killers and coming in daily to remind my mum that her time is limited and she should go to a ‘hospice’ to get care.

She was determined to see her family and keep her promise to them, even when they told her she would not survive the flight, her faith was greater than her fear so knowing the risks and how little she had left, after organising everything as close to perfection as possible (private ambulance to the airport, medical assistance on the plane; private ambulance to drive from Cairo to Alexandria so we didn’t have to do 2 planes) we got on that plane to Egypt, she landed, gave all her family big hugs and for 4 days she got around the clock care( luckily we come from a family of doctors/ nurses so we were able to keep her out of hospital), love and support from home just as she had wished.

she got the burial that she wanted in her home town surrounded by all of her loved ones. I will continue to say that my mums faith was unmatched, she wasn’t listening to anyone, she had me pack things for the summer for her to wear, games for us to all play and everything like it was an ordinary trip and everything was going to me fine.

macmillan were very supportive with the journey, assisting us in the last few days in hospital to make sure we got all the correct advice whilst making this trip, organising medication that was required with all its paper work to get us through the airport rapidly and really giving my mum that boost of morale to get her through that flight so I would like to raise this money so they can continue to support patients and their families❤️

In memory of Mervat Rashwan Aly❤️

A mother , a grandmother and a second bonus mummy to many❤️