A DEVOTED cancer survivor is appealing for help from the people of Redditch to fulfil her friend’s dying wish of going on holiday with her family one last time.
When Pride of Redditch winner Helen Biddle learnt her friend Tracy Reynolds was diagnosed with terminal cancer and only had six months to live, she became desperate to help send her off with her loved ones for one last time by raising £2,000.
The pair have been friends since school but on November 30 their friendship took a devastating turn when Tracy, from Woodrow, was told her cervical cancer, which had spread to her bones, was terminal.
“I expected bad news,” Tracy said. “But I didn’t expect it to be this bad – I thought I had maybe two, three years left.”
The 48-year-old was told she could have further chemotherapy which could help her survive for another two months but the mother-of-three declined.
During her earlier treatment, which included chemotherapy, radiotherapy and internal radiotherapy since her diagnosis in May of this year, Tracy managed to keep her hair but was confined to bed for around six weeks.
She added: “Its about quality time not quantity. I don’t want my children to see me like that and I don’t want to spend my time in bed again.”
Helen, a breast cancer survivor herself, hopes her appeal will inspire people in the Redditch community to help send Tracy and her family on one last holiday together.
“We want to raise enough to cover spending money, accommodation and travel costs so the family don’t have to worry while they are away,” she said.
“Even though Tracy has never had really had much herself she would give anyone her last penny.”
Tracy hopes to be able to travel to Devon with her extended family to help her and enjoy her company.
“I’d love to go to a cottage overlooking the sea,” she said.
But the trip has to take place at the end of February or into March as Tracy’s daughter is due to give birth in early April and the family are keen to travel before Tracy starts to feel too unwell.
She added: “I feel fine at the moment. It’s weird to be told it’s terminal when at the moment I don’t feel that ill.”
Tracy’s colleagues from the town’s B&M store on the Abbey Retail Park are lending their support with two of them climbing Mount Snowdon in January. They have already raised £1,000 in sponsorship.
To support Tracy visit https://crowdfunding.justgiving.com/helen-biddle-1 via a laptop or desktop computer.
Cash donations can be made by handing a sealed envelope marked with the donor’s name and for the attention of Helen in at Biddles Simply Fresh on Birchfield Road.
