In March 2020, 29-year-old Ashleigh Ellerton was diagnosed with breast cancer after discovering a small lump in her right breast. Initially dismissed by her GP, Ashleigh persisted and was eventually sent for further testing at a breast clinic.
She was then diagnosed with the disease, which impacts one in seven women during their lifetime, and underwent chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy.
29-year-old Ashleigh Ellerton received the heartbreaking prognosis after being diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease (SWNS)
Recalling the moment she was diagnosed with cancer, Ashleigh said: “The words came out of his mouth, but it was sort of like they didn’t. The only thing I could think of was that we had just booked a family holiday.
“It was almost like it wasn’t happening to me. It was happening to someone else and I was just watching it.”
Ashleigh would receive an all-clear in December 2020 and married Simon a year later.
Despite the initial positive results, Ashleigh remained convinced that her cancer would return and in 2022, doctors discovered it had spread to her liver.
“I was convinced that the cancer was not finished with me,” she said.
“I told my nurses who had come to my wedding that my cancer was going to come back in my liver.”
In September 2024 Ashleigh would receive another round of devastating news after she began to suffer with bad headaches and mood swings, which led to her being diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease.
According to Cancer Research UK, leptomeningeal disease is when cancer cells spread to thin layers of tissue which cover the brain and spinal cord. Prognosis differs from patient to patient and is dependent on factors such as how quickly the cancer is growing, as well as how it responds to treatment.
For Ashleigh, this meant that she was out of treatment options and now had just months left to live.
She is now focused on making memories with her four children (SWNS)
Now focused on making lasting memories with her children – who are aged 11, 10, nine and five – the former carer said: “They are the reason I fought so hard and for so long, there is nothing in the world I do that isn’t for them. I do believe they are the reason I am still here.
“I am making memory boxes, writing cards so they have birthday cards with my writing.
“It is about making sure I have prepared the kids for life without me.”
Her mother has also set up a GoFundMe for the family, with the goal raising funds for the children to make lasting memories with their mother. The family have since received over £11,700 from kind strangers, which has allowed Ashleigh and her children to visit places such as Harry Potter World, Disneyland, London and on the Polar Express, places she’d planned on taking them when they were a little older.
“I didn’t have the privilege of waiting until then to enjoy it with them,” she added.
