It was raining the day of my mother Kristina's memorial, and the event stays smudged in my memory. I was 12, wore a blue velvet dress and had a cough. I remember one of my mother's doctors taking the podium and comparing her to Captain Kirk from the original Star Trek series. He spoke of her willingness to take risks, to try new therapies, to tolerate pain and discomfort. "When I had something promising I'd call her up and say, "Kristina, I have dilithium crystals for you!" and she'd say, 'Beam me up, Scotty!"
In 1992, when I was three years old, my mother learnt she had an aggressive form of breast cancer. Each day, she sat for hours at our dining table, her hair tied back, surrounded by stacks of paper covered in dense, technical paragraphs. Over the next four years, she consulted doctors, specialists, homeopaths and healers. A surgeon cut the cancerous flesh from her body. She adhered to rigid diets and swallowed a mountain of pills. She flooded her body with chemotherapy and carrot juice. She was always looking for a way to survive.
The summer after her cancer spread my mother had set me and my older brother Jamie to work, making scrapbooks to record our childhoods.
Going through photographs, we pulled out snapshots of our mother before we were born and told her how pretty she looked.
She’d hold the picture for a moment.
‘Yes,’ she’d say. ‘I wish I’d known.’
Bu hikaye WOMAN'S OWN dergisinin October 14, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye WOMAN'S OWN dergisinin October 14, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
SUCCESS AGAINST THE ODDS
Pauline Campbell, 59, refused to let her childhood marked with racism stop her from achieving her dreams
Jennifer Saunders 'WE JUST HAD THE BEST TIME'
The Absolutely Fabulous star on her hit sitcom… When the first episode of Absolutely Fabulous aired on BBC2 on 12 November 1992, it introduced viewers to the Bolly-fuelled antics of self-obsessed PR guru Edina ‘Eddie’ Monsoon and her chain-smoking pal Patsy Stone, played by Jennifer Saunders and Dame Joanna Lumley.
HOLIDAY IN HANOI
With its charming buildings and green spaces, Vietnam's capital city deserves a place on your bucket list
Who is better behind the wheel?
Most men believe they are the stronger driver in their relationship, according to a new study...
52 ADVENTURES IN 52 WEEKS!
Jessica Last, 36, believes you don't have to step on a plane to have a trip of a lifetime
CHILDREN IN CRISIS
With the number of homeless children in the UK at a record high, how can we help kids with no place to call home?
A SHARPER BRAIN IN 7 DAYS
Beat foggy thinking and supercharge your memory with these easy lifestyle tweaks
MUM'S PRECIOUS GIFTS
When Genevieve Kingston's mother learnt she was dying, she found a poignant way to marh her children's milestones
KILLED BY OUR NEIGHBOUR
Laura Sugden, 34, always knew the man living next door was trouble
THIS MORNING IN CRISIS!
With plummeting viewing figures and facing a mounting backlash, could Cat Deeley be ready to quit the ITV show?