A cancer-stricken mother with two years to live is still struggling five years later, and now runs a busy store.
Brave Gemma Ellis, 39, received a terminal diagnosis in 2017, prompting her to quit her NHS job.
But five years later, she’s still alive and now runs a charity shop that supports other people. with stage four breast cancer.
The mother of two, from Manchester, said: “I don’t know how I’m doing this. The store is very busy and I love it.
“The first full day I did made me feel like a normal human being. It was lovely to get up, load the dishwasher and go to work.
“I felt like a real working mom again, I had missed him so much. I never imagined that I would do this, I am very, very happy!”
Gemma was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer in February 2017 while working as a discharge coordinator for the NHS.
She said: “Inflammatory breast cancer is very rare. You don’t get a lump. I had pain, a rash, and redness all over my upper left breast.
“Nobody knew what it was and it doesn’t show up on mammograms. I had months of going back and forth to doctors before I had an MRI and was diagnosed.”
Gemma then went through six rounds of chemotherapy, surgery and 15 rounds of radiation therapy, returning to her desk in September.
But then incurable lesions were found by CT scan in his lungs and spine in April 2018.
Shocked by the lack of resources available, Gemma decided to help others with terminal cancer.
She, her husband Ben, 33, and their daughters, Ruby, 12, and Scarlett, 10, began sending packages containing comforting products and information pages.
Gemma also created a website, a social media support group, and started her first GoFundMe. Locals began delivering items for packages to her home.
He spent so much time sending support packages that he resigned from his NHS position in 2019.
(Gemma Ellis/ SWNS)
Her organization then became a charity in July 2022. Gemma was mentioned in Parliament and even received a letter from then Prime Minister Boris Jonson.
His fundraising has been so successful that he founded a research foundation and opened his charity shop on October 1 near his home in Manchester.
She said: “It’s been pretty crazy, but I’ve always been the type to just get up and do something if I want to.
“Stage four means treatable but not curable; then you know you’re not going to walk away from her.
“They gave me one or two years, but I have survived five. He was very, very lonely at first, there was no support out there.
“When you’re diagnosed with primary cancer, they hand you all kinds of pamphlets about treatment, support groups and recovery.
“When I was in high school it was very different, there was very little information.
“I needed that support group and positive stories. I needed to know about the people who were still living normal lives and how long they had survived.
“There was nothing to help my family or show me how to tell my children.
“It is a one day at a time existence. You can become friends with someone and then lose them after a few months, while others continue for 13 years.
It depends on the type of cancer and the treatment, and each person responds differently, but there is no way to predict it. You really just have to keep going.”
Gemma’s secondary injuries are now to her brain, as well as her spine and both lungs.
She spoke candidly with her daughters about her illness and they even held wig parties when she started losing her hair.
Gemma has run her organization despite her own chemotherapy every three weeks and even brain surgery.
Due to a post-operative infection, she has a 20 cm hole in her skull, just behind her forehead, but that doesn’t stop her.
To other people with terminal cancer, Gemma said: “Don’t panic. Let people help you, let them in and take whatever they offer. Look for positive stories.”
