Two Midland mums inspire the nation ahead of Mother's Day

Kellie Arkell, from Bilston, and Anne Marie Lennon, a Walsall council worker, have had their inspiring stories and photographs included on the cards which aim to connect with and support people affected by the disease, while raising vital funds.

The cards have been designed by UK Greetings and are on sale in Tesco stores as part of the supermarket giant’s ongoing support of Race for Life.

Both Kellie and Anne Marie know exactly how vital it is to keep raising funds for life saving research. They hope their stories will inspire all the mums across the nation whose lives have been touched by cancer.

In 2019, single mum Kellie received the bombshell news that she had incurable cancer that had spread from her breast to her liver.

“Can you imagine having to go home and tell your children you’re going to die? It was just too awful to think about them all being left motherless at such a young age,” said the former hairdresser.

After giving her children the devastating news, Kellie eased the heartache by promising them she would break the record to be the longest-living person with cancer.

She went through intensive chemotherapy in a bid to keep the cancer at bay, and suffered a catalogue of setbacks including having sepsis twice, pneumonia, shingles and Covid-19.

Kellie describes it as ‘the hardest year of my life’, made all the worse by having to go through treatment alone because of the pandemic, and with ‘non-essential’ reconstruction surgery put on indefinite hold.

But a miracle reprieve turned Kellie’s life around when she had further scans performed after her treatment finished. These showed that the ‘tumours’ on her liver were in fact benign cysts, and the cancer had not spread.

“I went from ‘incurable’ to ‘curable’ in the space of seconds. It was the most amazing thing to hear, a real miracle,” said Kellie, who has three daughters - five-year-old Lola, Mia, aged 11, and Elisha,17.

Determined not to let the cancer return, Kellie opted to have a double mastectomy. She was unable to have a breast reconstruction during the pandemic, but has since been able to go ahead and is now awaiting the very last stage of her surgery.

Inspired by their brave mum, Elisha, Mia and Lola decided to cycle and scooter 5k round their local park in April last year to raise money for Race for Life At Home, when the ‘real life’ events were postponed due to Covid-19.

Kellie said: “I was thrilled to bits to be asked to feature on the Cancer Research UK Mother’s Day cards. My children mean the world to me and they kept me going during my darkest days, making me laugh and filling my life with love.

“I hope lots of mums out there will take special comfort from our story, and maybe be inspired to join Race for Life themselves, so that more mums can enjoy more Mother’s Days with their children.”

Anne Marie's features changed so much when she lost her hair during cancer treatment that her youngest granddaughter Mariah was afraid to look at her.

Now in remission, Anne Marie’s inspiring story and photograph has been included on the Mother’s Day card with the words: ‘Nan – You’re all kinds of wonderful’.

“I lost my hair and eyebrows and I looked so unrecognisable that my four-year-old granddaughter Mariah was scared to see me,” said Anne Marie, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma - a type of blood cancer - in April 2019 after finding a lump on her chest.

“She used to love playing with my hair and we’re very close so it was heartbreaking. She’s since said to me - ‘When you had a bald head you sounded like Nanny but you didn’t look like Nanny’.

“I had some really dark days during treatment and it took me a while to get back on my feet. I was putting on weight and I just didn’t recognise myself.”

Anne Marie, who works in child protection for Walsall Borough Council and lives in Kings Norton, was still struggling to walk in 2020 but continued to support Cancer Research UK by taking part in Race for Life at Home with family during lockdown.

“I wanted to do Race for Life after I was diagnosed but I was too poorly so it was emotional watching my son Carl and my friends do it for me instead,” added Anne Marie who has six grandchildren, now aged between seven and 20.

“I’m extremely proud to have mine and Carl’s picture on this year’s Tesco Mother’s Day cards. If it wasn’t for research, I wouldn’t be here today but I’m also conscious that my cancer could return. That’s why I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who takes part in events like Race for Life to raise much needed funds for research that will, one day, beat cancer.”

Oonagh Turnbull, head of charity campaigns at Tesco said: “We hope these cards will inspire others facing cancer and the money they raise will make a difference to so many lives.

“For the last 21 years, our partnership with Cancer Research UK has helped to raise millions of pounds for life-saving research. We hope Race for Life across the UK this year can be the biggest yet.”

The Mother’s Day cards, which are priced from £1, are on sale in Tesco stores and at tesco.com