YOUNG MUM TELLS OF WEDDING PLANS AS CANCER RETURNS
A young mum with terminal cancer says her miracle baby is giving her strength to carry on as normal .
Hayley Martin does not want to know how much time she has left after the devastating news that her bowel cancer has returned.
Instead, the inspirational 29-yearold is determined to live a normal life and has turned her attention to planning her wedding in September . Hayley, a L’Oreal technician from Loose Road, said: “When you hear that diagnosis you feel for your family. I worried about my mum, dad and sister and how they would deal with it . “And, of course, I thought of not being able to see my one-year-old boy grow up. “But after a few days I just wanted to fight it.
“I don’t live with a terminal diagnosis and I haven’t asked how much time I have got . I just try to live a normal life.
“I always do my make-up even when I’m having my chemo, and when I’m not in the ward I have different wigs that I wear . It just makes you feel better.
“I still work, I go out with my friends and on holidays and to the gym like everybody else.” Hayley was first diagnosed with bowel cancer two years ago in 2011, aged just 27. She was told it was likely she had been living with it for up to 10 years, but she put her tiredness down to being busy at work. It was not until she was taken to hospital with stomach pains that she found out what it was. After surgery and six months of chemotherapy, she was told there was no sign of the cancer.
But despite getting the all-clear she was told in September it had returned and was inoperable. The news came just four months after she gave birth to her son Freddie. Since then she has been having chemotherapy to keep it under control.
She said: “When you have chemo you always have the fear that you can’t have children, but I was lucky that at that time I was clear of cancer, or that I thought I was. “I wasn’t aware I was ill at the time. “I was over the moon when I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know I had cancer at the time. He is my little miracle. “I know my little boy is going to be well looked after in the future. I have already put his name down for the school I want him to go to and, of course, I have life insurance.”