Unluckiest woman alive: Mother battled cancer four times before she turned 30

When she was diagnosed with cancer in her lung as a toddler, doctors gave Lauren Ashley a 10 per cent chance of surviving past five. But she beat the odds and was eventually given the all-clear, going on to have a daughter of her own. Then, it seems, her luck ran out. The disease has since struck three more times, in her left eye, her bladder and a kidney, and on her right foot.

Lauren, who has battled four different types of cancer, with her daughter Eryn. She says Eryn keeps her strong and positive

Now aged 30, Miss Ashley has had more than 20 operations or minor procedures to identify and remove malignant growths. ‘I must be the unluckiest person in Britain,’ she said yesterday. ‘I have grown up going to hospital. I could write a guidebook to the NHS. ‘I’ve had over 20 operations and procedures and have had various parts of my skin cut off and examined.

‘Some people may think it’s freaky but I just think it’s part of me now.

‘All I can do is carry on and not think about it too much …  I must be the unluckiest person in Britain.’  Miss Ashley, a promotions manager from Bedford, was 16 months old when she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which caused a tumour in one of her lungs. The growth was removed just before her second birthday. She also had chemotherapy, which oncologists said could make her infertile. So she was astonished when she conceived in 2006. After a difficult pregnancy, her daughter Eryn was born at 29 weeks.  She spent two months in a neonatal unit, but is now a healthy six-year-old.

 Miss Ashley, pictured with her daughter,  was astonished when she conceived in 2006. After a difficult pregnancy, her daughter Eryn was born at 29 weeks. 

In 2008 Miss Ashley’s bad luck returned. She suffered a migraine that lasted for several days, and specialists eventually said there was a tumour behind her left eye. They were unable to diagnose the type of cancer and a biopsy was ruled out because of the risk of losing the eye, so they opted to monitor its growth instead.  The following year, Miss Ashley was diagnosed with cancer for the third time, in her bladder and left kidney.  She had surgery to remove the tumours from her bladder, and to remove the kidney completely.

This July, the disease struck again. Miss Ashley noticed a lump on her right foot, which was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, and removed. Doctors now think it might be connected to the cancer behind her eye, which they believe is a melanoma. On Monday, she will begin another course of chemotherapy to shrink it. She has also been referred to a genetic counsellor, who will discuss her case and see if her daughter has a heightened risk of developing cancer.

Neuroblastoma affects around 100 children a year in the UK. About half have the high-risk form and their chances of survival are 40 per cent, much better than 30 years ago. But a recent study found that survivors had a significantly greater risk of developing a second cancer later in life.

 Source: Daily Mail UK 

Please share