Joanne Thompson 3rd November 1966- 17th March 2022 died only 55 years of age at St James Hospital, Leeds.

Loving Mother to Rebecca, and Mother in Law to Luke; dear Sister to Jillian; beautiful daughter of Joseph; and adoring Aunt and Great Aunt to Ben and Daniel, and to their children Stephen, Callum, Declan and Matilda and Betsy. 

Rebecca: 

17.03.23

" It has been one whole year since my Mum passed away. She died in the morning after 9 long days in hospital. How she held on for so long is beyond me.

Just like the day she died, today was a beautiful morning, and the spring flowers are in bloom. She should be here to enjoy the sunshine, the changing of the seasons. And this is the least of what she will miss. There is so much she should be here for... but she was taken so soon, and so unexpectedly. She was taken many, many years before her time, and we will never have the comfort of knowing my Mum in her old age. She will be forever 55. 

Not a day goes by that I do not think of her. Not an hour, not even a minute. I find myself one year on, still in the heavy depths of grief. I am beginning to realise that when you lose someone in this way, that the pain will never leave you. We just have to adjust to a new way of living; one that is emptier than before. There will be no life like the life we had when my Mum was still here. "

Brain Cancer Sucks

Brain cancer is cancer in a cruel and unusual form. It takes the mind with the body, and can devastate and destroy within a short matter of weeks or months. Day in, day out, a new person joins the 'Bereaved by a Brain Tumour' page. Often the people who have died are older, in their 70s and 80s, and lucky enough to have had a long life; but more often than not, the deceased are young. I see many middle aged men and women, not yet grandparents, not yet retired; some people not old enough to watch their own children grow up; and so very tragically- people who are still children themselves.  

Despite all of this, only 1% of all cancer funding goes towards brain cancer. The 5 year survival rate for brain cancer is just 12%; placing it firmly as the 3rd most deadly cancer, and affecting more young people then the next most deadly- pancreatic cancer, and mesothelioma (a cancer caused by asbestos exposure). If you can donate to The Brain Tumour Charity, please do so as generously as you can, in the hope that one day there will be treatments to stop all of these early deaths.