Mum given just weeks to live determined to ‘fight this with everything’

The loving mother has terminal cancer and has been told by doctors she has a year at most to live without further treatment.

However, she is utterly determined to beat those odds so she can spend as long as she can with her 18-month-old daughter Aurelia.

Her aim is to build as many experiences as possible for Aurelia and herself so the youngster will have a physical memory of her when she grows up.

She said: “The longer I can have with Aurelia the better, so I am blessing every day I see her.

“She is changing and developing every day and starting to say words. She is calling me mama and it is wonderful.

“Some people say she won’t be old enough to remember me, so the longer I can be here the more memories she can build.

“I am making preparations so she can have messages from me at important times in her life- when she passes her driving test, when she turns 16, her first boyfriend or girlfriend.

“The more I can tell about our lives and our experiences together the better it will be.”

The 34-year-old and her wife Jess, 35, from Hove, know they face an uncertain future but both remain positive and determined.

Charley’s cancer is so rare, doctors don’t even know what type it is and her treatment options are limited.

Her only hope is ground-breaking immunotherapy treatment but Charley is facing yet another battle as family, friends and supporters rally around to raise the £100,000 needed to pay for it.

Her cancer diagnosis has made Charley think about what is important to her and top of that list is family and friends.

She said: “All my friends and family are so important to me.

“I did not value them enough before I got sick, and now I just want the time to be able to spend with them, helping them, laughing with them and appreciating them for the amazing people they are.”

Charley had a “fantastic” childhood growing up in Sheffield with parents Julia, 59, and David, 61, younger brother Olly, 32, and sister Harriet, 23.

She was a keen water skier when she was younger and represented Great Britain.

In 2002 Charley took on a job as water-skiing instructor at Mark Warner holiday company, and worked in Greece and Turkey.

It was at the company where she met future wife Jess.

They got together nine years ago and entered into a Civil Partnership in 2013, which was then converted to a marriage last year.

The pair moved to Sussex in 2007 where Charley originally worked as an event manager before setting up her own beauty salon in George Street, Hove.

After the arrival of Aurelia, the couple were enjoying the perfect life but then last year things began to go wrong.

Charley began to suffer severe stomach cramps and her GP referred her for scans which showed a large tumour in her stomach.

She had an operation to remove the lump but medics struggled to work out what it was and it ended up being sent to Harvard Medical School in the US for tests.

When the results eventually came back they said it was benign and there was nothing to worry about.

Charley said: “So we carried on with our normal life but then three or four months later I started to get really sick.

“I was in and out of six different types of hospital and had so many tests and checks.”

Charley was forced to close her business because of her illness and things came to a head in December when she had another operation to remove a tumour that had wrapped itself around a major artery.

She said: "Jess was told I might not survive the operation and to get ready but I managed to get through it.

“I was in and out of consciousness, really sick and ended up losing three stone in weight.

In January doctors gave Charley just weeks to live and said there was nothing more they could do for her as they did not think chemotherapy would work.

Charley said: “By this point I had started to get stronger and rally and I was desperate to go home.

“I knew I did not have very long left and I wanted to spend time with my family.

“But then I started to think about treatment that would give me longer, if nothing else.”

Doctors were persuaded to give Charley six rounds of chemotherapy to see if it could make a difference.

She said: “It was really tough and it left me really poorly, but to date my tumour has shrunk by 30 per cent.

“They cannot identify this cancer but they know it is very aggressive and the doctors have warned me it could get clever and continue to spread despite the treatment.

“As things stand, the doctors have said I have got a year if I’m lucky.

“It is a weird state of mind I’m in because I am feeling so positive and strong and yet I have this thing inside of me.

“I have had several conversations with doctors and I know what they are saying but I still intend to keeping on looking at further options.

“They don’t know what my cancer is and they don’t know my body.

"I have masses of hope and masses of support and I am going to fight this with everything.”

Immunotherapy is not available on the NHS because the cancer is so rare so Charley initially thought treatment would be impossible because of the £100,000 cost.

She said: “We are just an ordinary family, We don’t have that type of money around.

“I told my family about this and the immediate response was “We’ll get it. No questions. If that’s what you need.

“It has completely restored my faith in human kindness and I truly hope that I get the opportunity in the future to help others fight battles that they feel they cannot do alone.”

Any money raised that Charley does not need will be given to the Rarer Cancers Foundation.

APPEAL TO HELP PAY FOR CUTTING-EDGE TREATMENT

AN URGENT fundraising campaign has been launched to help Charley spend more precious time with her daughter.

Charley Ashton has an aggressive form of cancer which is so rare, doctors don’t even have a name for it. Family and friends have now set up a £100,000 appeal to raise the money needed for treatment to prolong her life.

Charley wants to try groundbreaking immunotherapy treatment, which harnesses the body’s own immune system to hunt out and attack cancer cells.

However, because it’s still in the trial stages, the treatment is only available on the NHS for skin cancer sufferers at the moment.

Charley will have to pay £100,000 to have the treatment carried out at Royal Marsden Hospital in London.

The campaign is aiming to hit that target as soon as possible and has already reached almost £20,000.

However there is still a long way to go and time is of the essence so supporters are stepping up awareness and arranging fundraisers and challenges over the coming months.

The aim is to get Charley started on treatment as quickly as she can because her chemotherapy ends soon.

Charley said: “I am overwhelmed by the kind, kind donations and words of encouragement from everyone who has donated so far.

“It’s totally blown me away. It really has given me the added strength to keep going on.

“It is a real rollercoaster of emotion. One minute I am in tears at the thought of not seeing my beautiful little girl grow up then the next minute the support and love of friends, family and sometimes complete strangers gives me such determination and fight.

“The chemotherapy makes me very poorly and makes the simplest of tasks impossible, but in these bad weeks my wife Jess and my amazing family and friends pull me through.”

To find out more, visit cure4charley.com or to make a donation to the campaign, visit gofundme.com/2csb3vg.

A sponsored London to Brighton bike ride has also been arranged for September 25. To sign up, visit eventbrite.co.uk/e/cycle-for-charley-c4c-tickets-26550717912?ref=estw.

Any money raised that Charley may not need will be donated to the Rarer Cancers Foundation.