The heartbreaking reason this mum writes letters to her kids

A mum diagnosed with shock terminal cancer after having no symptoms is writing birthday cards for her children for when she’s no longer around.

Married mum-of-two Laura Atkinson, was given the devastating news she had stage four Ocular Uveal Melanoma in 2014 after she went for a routine eye test.

Despite having an operation to remove the tumour even while she was pregnant with son Dylan, Laura’s cancer spread to her liver.

She’s now desperate to stay alive in time to take Dylan, three, for his first day at school in September 2019.

Laura, who is also a stay-at-home mum to daughter Faye, six, wants to “get as close to September next year” as she can.

The 37-year-old is currently receiving pioneering treatment from the Spire Southhampton Hospital and admits without it she won’t make it “till Easter”.

“If I make it to September than everything after that is bonus time with my children,” she admitted. “While I’m still able to I want to make mind memories and do nice things that they can remember.”

Laura is fundraising £80,000 on GoFundMe for the final two cycles of the pioneering treatment, which costs £40,000 per cycle, after funding two herself.

She has also prepared her will and is beginning to plan how she can still be part of her kids’ lives even when she’s no longer around, which includes writing birthday cards for her two children’s future birthdays.

“When it comes to when I’m out of options, that is when I want to do the memory bears and write cards,” she said. “I have to think about what will happen when I’m not there.”

Laura admitted her initial cancer diagnosis was “blind siding”.

Despite having emergency surgery while she was pregnant, Laura was given the devastating news shortly before Dylan’s birth that the tumour would likely return.

To add to the nightmare, her son Dylan had to have open heart surgery only two weeks after being born.

Luckily, Dylan made a full recovery and is now a happy and healthy child.

But in August 2017, while on a family holiday, Laura was called in by doctors following a routine scan and exploratory surgery and was given the shattering news that there was nothing more they could do.

Laura said that since she was given the news, she’s focused on trying to spend as much time as possible with Dylan and Faye and her husband Keith, 46.

But she hasn’t revealed the full nature of her condition to her kids so that she can protect them.

“I say [to Faye] I have something growing in my tummy,” she explained. “She doesn’t know the ultimate ending, she doesn’t need to know that yet.”

Despite her anger, Laura hopes that her children will understand how hard she has fought to stay alive.

To donate to Laura’s fundraising cause for her treatment visit her GoFundMe page.

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