‘My Mother’

This Mother’s Day, I am remembering my mother, who died of lung cancer precisely 50 years ago this month.

This photograph was taken in January 1974 and is the last one I have of her. 

My mother had discovered that she had lung cancer two months earlier and had just had a lung removed. 

Unfortunately, the cancer had spread, and she died just two months after this photo was taken - too young, on March 20, aged just 63. My father, who was 11 years older than her, had died a few years earlier. 

That was 50 years ago - a lifetime, really. But I've always regretted that she wasn't around when my children were growing up and that they never had grandparents on my side of the family to reassure them that their father was young once, too!

Cancer survival rates have more than doubled since my mother died, and, in her memory, I’m planning to run (slowly nowadays but still run!) 100 kilometres (62 miles) this month to raise money for Cancer Research UK to help improve survival rates even further.

I've made a start, and you can follow my progress on the fundraising page I have set up.