ASHLEIGH Ellerton was given just three months to live after being told she was “too young” to have breast cancer.
“I had to go home to tell my children, I remember them screaming,” the now 29-year-old recalled.
Ashleigh Ellerton has been told she had three months to live[/caption]
The mother of four had breast cancer that had spread to her brain[/caption]
Ashleigh has been told to get her affairs in order[/caption]
The Yorkshire lass was told in 2022 she would be lucky to live three years.
Specialists have now warned her that the cancer has spread to her brain and spinal cord, and there are no treatments available.
She has been told she has just three months to live.
Ashleigh is now trying to make as many memories as she can with her husband, Simon, 37, and their four children – aged 11, 10, nine and five.
“They are the reason I fought so hard and for so long, there is nothing in the world I do that isn’t for them,” she said.
“I do believe they are the reason I am still here,” she added.
Ashleigh started feeling pain in her breast and found a small lump in December 2019, when she was just 24.
She was initially told by her GP that there was “no way” she could have cancer because there was no history of it in her family.
“I am quite stubborn, so refused to leave until they’d sent me to the breast clinic,” she said.
The mum was sent for a mammogram, multiple ultrasounds and a CT scan.
Eventually, in March 2020, Ashleigh was diagnosed with breast cancer and told she would need chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy.
She said: “The words came out of [the doctors] mouth, but it was sort of like they didn’t,
“The only thing I could think of was that we had just booked a family holiday.
“It was sort of like unplanning things in my head rather than listening to what the doctor was saying.
“And then when we left the room, it sunk in. It was almost like it wasn’t happening to me.
“It was happening to someone else and I was just watching it.”
She then went through six rounds of chemotherapy, 15 rounds of radiotherapy and a mastectomy.
Ashleigh was given the all-clear in December 2020 and married Simon, a former trainee butcher, in 2021.
The mum, with her husband Simon, 37, and their four children – aged 11, 10, nine and five[/caption]
They are trying to make as many memories together as possible as a family[/caption]
Ashleigh said: “I was convinced that the cancer was not finished with me.
“I told my nurses who had come to my wedding that my cancer was going to come back in my liver.”
‘I didn’t think I would die’
In 2022, the mum was in severe pain and had to have her gallbladder removed after developing sepsis.
During her surgery, doctors found secondary breast cancer in her liver.
She was told it was metastatic breast cancer and she had three years to live.
Ashleigh said: “It was a shock but I’d read stories and I’d seen people live a lot longer.
“So I didn’t think I would die in three years, there is no chance.”
What are the signs of breast cancer?
BREAST cancer is the most common type of cancer in the UK.
The majority of women who get it are over 50, but younger women and, in rare cases, men can also get breast cancer.
If it’s treated early enough, breast cancer can be prevented from spreading to other parts of the body.
Breast cancer can have a number of symptoms, but the first noticeable symptom is usually a lump or area of thickened breast tissue.
Most breast lumps aren’t cancerous, but it’s always best to have them checked by your doctor. You should also speak to your GP if you notice any of the following:
- a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts
- discharge from either of your nipples (which may be streaked with blood)
- a lump or swelling in either of your armpits
- dimpling on the skin of your breasts
- a rash on or around your nipple
- a change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast
Source: NHS
Ashleigh’s mum, Steph Allsopp, 44, a full-time carer, decided to set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for the family to spend as much time together as possible.
Strangers have donated over £11,700 which has allowed Ashleigh to take her kids to Harry Potter World, Disneyland, London and on the Polar Express.
‘My five-year-old didn’t understand’
In September 2024, Ashleigh started suffering from bad headaches and mood swings.
A few days after an MRI scan, she was diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease, a rare cancer complication where it spreads to the brain’s protective layers.
Doctors told her now had just three months left.
Ashleigh said: “That shock factor was when he said that I had to get my affairs in order and I had three months to live.
“My five-year-old didn’t understand what was going on, but I remember him crying and saying he wasn’t going to see me.”
She had hoped to take them to Disneyland and Scotland when all her children were a little older.
They have visited Harry Potter World[/caption]
She said: “I didn’t have the privilege of waiting until then to enjoy it with them.
“My biggest goal was to make it to Christmas; it is our favourite time of year, and there was absolutely no way I would pass away before Christmas.
“I didn’t want them to have that over their heads for the rest of their lives.
“My daughter did ask if Santa could take away my cancer, which I think left poor Santa in a bit of shock.”
Making memories
Now, Ashleigh is focusing on making her children memory boxes that will last forever – including birthday cards, prom gifts, letters, trinkets to remind them of her and even gifts to eventually give their future children.
She said: “I would want them to remember I was present and that I fought as hard as I could.”
Ashleigh has donated her biopsies for research and hopes this can help future treatment for others.
She said: “I’m just hoping that one day in the future, the things I have done will stop this from happening to another family.”
