A MUM who blamed her cough on Covid later had to tell her daughter “Mummy is going to heaven”. The heartbreaking truth behind Becky Davis’ symptoms means she has a limited time left with her little girl, Lexi, six. Becky, 36, of Redditch, Worcestershire, was blindsided by a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer in July […]
A MUM who blamed her cough on Covid later had to tell her daughter “Mummy is going to heaven”.
The heartbreaking truth behind Becky Davis’ symptoms means she has a limited time left with her little girl, Lexi, six.
Becky, 36, of Redditch, Worcestershire, was blindsided by a diagnosis of terminal lung cancer in July 2020.
Still shocked to the core, Becky said: “I never thought it’d happen to me. I’m so young. I don’t smoke.
“At first, I just couldn’t understand it. But I want everyone to know that any of us can get cancer. It can happen to anyone at all.
“I don’t know how long I’ve got left.”
Chemotherapy is not effective against her form of the disease, so Becky’s family have paid £16,000 for her “last shot” at private treatment that might prolong her life.
Becky, a single parent, said: “I told Lexi right away. I don’t believe in heaven, but that idea seemed to give her some comfort.
“So, now she knows Mummy is going to heaven. But she thinks she can just come up there and visit me.
“I don’t want to strip away her innocence, but we talk about it often. I tell her I’ve got cancer and I won’t be here forever. I want her to know what’s coming.”
When Becky’s cough began in January 2020 she thought it was a run-of-the mill infection.
But it rapidly worsened and started interfering with her everyday life.
The administrator said: “I was coughing. I’d be sick. It was awful.”
Not long after the pandemic struck and Becky became convinced she had Covid. She also had symptoms of tiredness, losing weight and feeling a constant need to clear her throat.
Becky said: “I did so, so many tests, but they all came back negative.
“I’d be in the supermarket, during my hour a day outside, and people were glaring at me as I hacked up.”
With tight restrictions keeping people apart, Becky was only able to speak to her GP on the phone in April.
She said: “I do think the pandemic could have affected how things ended up for me.
“I couldn’t see anyone. No one was able to listen to my chest. I just kept having telephone appointments, being prescribed more antibiotics, then left to get on with it.
“All the while, my cough was getting worse and worse.”
Eventually, after being sent for further tests at the hospital, Becky received an alarming call from her doctor in July 2020 while at work.
She recalled: “They told me there was a mass on my right lung.“ I said, ‘Are you talking about cancer?’ She said, ‘It could be.’
“I was just hysterical. I had a five-year-old to think about.”
Becky then had a biopsy which confirmed she had stage four ALK-positive lung cancer.
This cancer, responsible for five per cent of all lung cancer cases, is caused by an abnormal rearrangement of genes.
The vast majority of sufferers, like Becky, are non-smokers. It can come as a shock considering smoking is the number one driver of lung cancer.
Most ALK patients are female and half of those diagnosed are under 50.
Becky said: “I’d stay up at night reading about this cancer and finally it made sense.
“I hoped then that I had years, not months left. That was some kind of reassurance.”
Chemotherapy is ineffective against Becky’s form of the disease.
She tried two separate forms of medication aimed at controlling the condition and prolonging her life, but neither have worked for her.
Her cancer was originally in both lungs, several lymph nodes and her breast bone.
It has now cleared everywhere but her right lung, where there is progression.
Becky said she hopes she has years left, “but all I can do is wait and see”.
I’d stay up at night reading about this cancer and finally it made sense.
Becky
“I’m having blood tests every four weeks and scans every three months,” she said.
Becky is hopeful that stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) treatment will prolong her life.
The therapy involves small, thin beams of radiation directed from different angles that meet at the tumour, meaning it gets a high dose.
Sadly, Becky was told it was not available to her on the NHS at her stage, so her family have raised £16,000 to fund a course of treatment.
She said: “I have four more sessions of SABR over the next couple of weeks. I’ll then need to wait three months to see if it’s worked.
“Nothing will be a cure. Not at this point. All I can hope is that it gives me more time with Lexi.
“There’s no money for any further treatment after this, so this is it. My last shot.”
Becky is no longer working so she can spend every spare moment possible with her daughter making memories.
She said: “We used to be really active together. Now I can’t do quite as much, as all my treatment has side effects, so we spend time at home.
“We enjoy little things like crafting. We’ll make T-shirts, decorate mugs, that kind of thing.
“Lexi loves making things and I know we’re truly creating memories at the same time – moments she will be able to treasure when Mummy goes to heaven.”
Becky is supporting Cancer Research UK’s vital work. To play your part and help support research that will beat cancer, visit www.cruk.org.
The symptoms of ALK-positive lung cancer are:
ALK-positive lung cancer accounts for around five per cent of all lung cancer cases.
However, around 30 per cent of people who get a lung cancer diagnosis under the age of 40 have ALK-positive cancer.
Half of ALK-positive lung cancer patients are under the age of 50.
While smoking is the key driver of lung cancer cases, most ALK-positive cancer patients are non-smokers.
ALK positive lung cancer occurs when part of the ALK gene is broken and attaches to another gene, which creates a fusion.
ALK combines with the EML4 gene, resulting in a fusion oncogene EML4-ALK. An oncogene is a gene that is mutated and may cause cancer cells.
If you have cancer with an “ALK rearrangement”, part of your ALK gene is mutated, resulting in uncontrolled cell replication- cancer.
ALK-positive lung cancer responds very well to a group of targeted drugs called ALK inhibitors, and chemotherapy also works against this cancer.
But how well drugs work depends on the stage of the cancer, with survival rates plummeting for those diagnosed at a late stage.
