Smithy likes a scrap

Smithy Likes a Scrap

This is our Smithy, Nicknack, Nic… In her words she’d say she’s one of the luckiest people she knows. For us, her friends, we’d say her rebellious hope and optimism are second to none, but lucky, well that’s some sort of sick joke!

Nic was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer that had spread to her lungs on the 21st of March 2023. Endless trips to the Doctors and Hospital, struggling to breathe and being in lots of pain, she finally found help from SDEC, who battled to get her seen by the right people without them - we wouldn’t be lucky enough to have Nic with us today.

But then the rollercoaster really started to gain speed, bumps, loop de bloody loops, you name it, it came for her! With multiple drains on her lung and a collapsed lung - she could barely breathe, and at this point was having to organise her own care as once again she seemed to fall through some massive hole in a net.

Eventually, after 3 weeks, Nic received a phone call to say an amazing Oncologist was able to see her in Brighton the next day could she go? Obviously off her and Adam went first thing the next day. She now has a team of Oncologists and specialist that see her almost weekly, travelling between Brighton, Haywards Heath and Guy’s.

Unfortunately, we now know that the cancer has also spread to her ribs, pelvis, spine and is also in the lymphatic system, which is called Lymphangitis Carcinomatosis, with a few other areas, including the adrenal glands and liver (to be confirmed with pet scan on the 12th of June 2023).

I will never forget the messages, ‘Carls, I think I’m in a whole load of trouble here. I need you to listen and not tell me to shut up. If this goes tits up I need you to do some things for me. No 1. Look after Adam, he’s really gonna need help especially with the girls. Please remind him how much I love him and how proud I am of the man he’s become. No 2. Show up for my girls, be there on birthdays, weddings, when they have babies anything really and remind them just how much I love them, how much I miss them and just how proud I will be looking down on them. Anyway that’s it really because at this point nothing else matters mate’.

Long story short, the news none of us ever want to get. It’s terminal stage 4 cancer, they can’t cure her, just try their best to treat her with palliative care and keep her going for as long as possible. She’s asked the question ‘How long have I got?’ and didn’t like the answer much so she’s chosen not to put a number on her life. Well, actually she’s refused to put a time limit on her hope - Smithy likes a scrap remember and no way is she going down without pursuing every avenue, pathway, alternative therapy, holistic, western medicine anything at all that will buy her time!

For those of us that know Nic, we can tell you that she is frankly a force to be reckoned with, stronger than anyone we know but this really has come at a cost. The family have already endured a 10 year battle with little Freya’s heart disease. Nic has already had cancer and had to do the entire thing alone due to covid, multiple health problems over the years to name but a few of the dramas – but this is not pity party and what we want to do now is support the family in the only way we can. With love, kindness and funds to help the journey ahead.

So this is the plan. Me and the gang, who are now known as ‘Rebellious Hope’ will be fund raising to raise as much money as possible to support our girl. Funds to cover private therapy to try and help her paralysed vocal chords for a start. Nic has next to no voice, it’s really very hard for her to communicate verbally due to this. She is frustrated, breathless and really struggling with this. The NHS are providing basic speech therapy to see if they can get the chord to move but this is slow with not many appointments available and without the luxury of given time, well that’s the first thing on the list to try and help with.

The list is really not going to end so we want to provide the family with funds to pay for Nic to have regular acupuncture to help with symptoms, travel costs for hospital, maybe a couple of staycation beach holidays for the family to make memories together. Basically, we all want the best for Nic and her family.

Now the tricky part as you can imagine is the last thing Nic would want was for anyone to feel obliged to give money. Sadly, no amount of money can take away the fact she has stage 4 secondary breast cancer and it breaks our hearts that we don’t have the money to give her the best life experiences with her husband Adam and her 3 children, Maya, Poppy and Freya.

Bloody cancer is so expensive so the money will not only help with making memories and with what Nic likes to call ‘a living list’, it will help with the financial burden that comes with having cancer.

So that’s where we are stepping in – by putting on some great events to raise as much financial support to make this journey the best we can, so watch this space for updates and feel free to join me and the gang as we fundraise for our girl.

Thank you for taking the time to read this journey we are all on. We are reaching out for any help and support to make her quality of life , dreams and wishes come true .

Lots of love The ‘Rebellious Hope’ gang - Carly, Carrie, Donna, Helen, Lou and Nardia xx