Family says goodbye to mum who spent final months making memories after cancer diagnosis
A young mother who was given a shock cancer diagnosis just under a year ago and decided to pack in as many experiences for her daughters to remember as possible has died.
Laura Roberts of Shrewsbury was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on May 29 last year, aged just 37. Surgery was not an option but Laura made the decision not to be told how long she could expect to live, and instead to focus on making the rest of her life as happy as possible for her three girls.
She died earlier this month and her family will say goodbye at her funeral today.
Her sisters Chelsea and Leann began raising money to fund new experiences for Laura and her daughters Jade (20), Ellie (17), and Lily (13), under the campaign #LaurasLegacy. More than £16,000 has been raised.
Chelsea said: "We are so grateful for the kind and generous people of Shrewsbury for donating towards our JustGiving and fundraising page. This allowed my sister to do everything she wanted over the last year, from helicopter riding to staying in the Savoy Hotel in London and sightseeing.
"Laura and her girls were able to do a helicopter ride together over Wolverhampton and travel to London, to stay in the Savoy Hotel and sightsee. Also the whole family stayed in the Boars Head pub, which was hired out just for us.
"Laura was also able to celebrate all three girls' birthdays, as well as her own. We also managed to spend a magical Christmas all together, staying in cabins just outside Shrewsbury.
Hospice
"On May 6, we lost our beautiful Laura. Her health had been deteriorating since her chemo finished in December. She had been in and out of the hospital and the hospice since March.
"It started out as ascites, which was a build up of fluid in the stomach. This caused so much pain for her. Meaning she could hardly eat anything, which caused her to lose weight. But then the doctors said the cancer had taken over.
"On May 5 they had told my parents she only had days left. Then on the evening of May 6, she passed with my sister Leann and my mum Nicky beside her.
"Throughout all of this, she still kept her witty and sometimes quite dark sense of humour. And of course her biggest smile right until the end.
"The Severn Hospice and the Severn Hospice cafe were absolutely incredible. The cafe allowed us to have a table all day so we had somewhere to sit, when other family members were visiting my sister – we have a very big close family."
"Then the Severn Hospice allowed us to have a family room, so we could all be together and stay with Laura.
"A lovely group of girls created a page to help us with our fundraising, a couple of months ago. Lily, Laura’s youngest daughter came up with the idea that we would have a memorial bench with the money raised from that page. The bench will be in Tywyn, where my parents have a caravan and where we have all spent many summers all together.
"We are currently in the process of planning to do something to raise money for Severn Hospice, as they were so brilliant with me and my family as well as taking special care of my sister. We are so grateful we were all able to see her and spend some time with her in her last days. And without the hospice being in Shrewsbury, we would not have been able to do this so we would really like to give something back to them."
"Laura’s funeral will be on Friday at the Abbey Church. We chose that church as it’s beautiful just like our Laura."
To donate to the appeal visit bit.ly/37qczgr and to learn more, visit facebook.com/fundraisingforlauraandhergirls.
