A teenager with terminal cancer is in a race against time to fulfil her dreams and raise as much money as possible for charity.
Rebecca Dalgleish is just 17, an age where her whole life should be ahead of her. But, instead of filling out university applications and mulling over a future career, she’s dedicating her time to living life to the full and collecting cash for Children’s Hospice Association Scotland.
Rebecca, from Kingston, North Berwick, was diagnosed with a Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumour last summer and, in January, received the devastating news the cancer was terminal. The prognosis is that she has “more than months, but not years” left to live.
However, rather than dwelling on the bleak diagnosis, the brave youngster is determined to spend her last moments supporting other teenagers with cancer and backing CHAS, which has been a lifeline in her time of need.
In just three months, she’s raised almost £30,000 for charity, a mixture of selling her own specially designed wristbands and encouraging others to donate to her plight.
Rebecca has also started an online blog about her cancer journey viewed by almost 17,000 people already and drafted up a bucket list of things to try before her untimely passing.
“I could waste time making plans for the future which I might not be around to see through or I can live life to the max, have some fun and feel good knowing I’m doing something positive,” she said.
“When you’re told your life is going to be cut short, it changes your perspective.
“There is so little support out there for teenagers with terminal cancer that I wanted to open up and share my experience.
“I wanted to raise awareness that it’s not just the old out there who die of cancer. The young do too.
“There’s advice about treatment and how to get through daily life, but there isn’t much on the emotional side. Hopefully reading my blog can help others going through it.
“I also want to show people how great CHAS’s hospices are. I’ve been to Rachel House and it was amazing. I want to fundraise to help keep services like this running for other teens.”
Rebecca, a keen long-distance runner, first experienced symptoms last summer when she felt pains in her legs while training for the Scottish half-marathon.
At first, doctors suspected a running injury, but when the problem persisted and the pain became more excruciating, Rebecca and mum Pam persuaded them to take a second look.
An MRI scan detected a lump in Rebecca’s pelvis and a biopsy revealed it was cancerous. The heart-breaking diagnosis came the weekend before her school exams.
At first, it was thought treatment could shrink the tumour, so Rebecca underwent gruelling chemo and radiotherapy. However, in January, Rebecca suffered another blow the cancer couldn’t be treated.
“It’s hard to explain what it was like being told I was going to die very, very young,” Rebecca said. “It didn’t really feel real, as if I was lying when I told my family and friends. But sadly it was true.”
It’s thought Rebecca’s tumour could have been caused by neurofibromatosis (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow along the nerves. Pam had to have a non-malignant tumour removed from her neck when she was a child and Rebecca’s younger brother Robbie, 15, had a brain tumour removed a few years ago.
While it’s rare, NF1 is associated with Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumours.
“The diagnosis has been devastating,” Pam said. “But we don’t have a choice apart from to cope with it.
“It’s something nobody would want, but Rebecca has found positivity in it and we fully support her in that. She’s a truly amazing girl and has adopted a fantastic attitude to the whole thing.
“It is taking up so much of our time, but has given us all a focus.”
Rebecca is currently working her way through her bucket list. She’s already met McBusted, enjoyed spa weekends at top hotels, gone husky sledging and on a massive shopping spree.
Over the next few months, her parents are treating her to a family holiday in Spain and she’ll see pop idol Olly Murs in concert.
She tells about it all in her blog, as well as her fundraising ventures and bares all in an honest account of what it’s like to be a teenager with terminal cancer.
“It’s just simple things, but things I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Rebecca said.
“The time has come to live for the moment. There are constant reminders of the fact that I’ll die young. I’ll consider myself lucky if I live to 20. But I’m 17. I’ve had a good childhood. The best way to look at it is that many people would be lucky to have my years.”
One of the highlights of Rebecca’s year will be her prom in June.
Donate at justgiving.com/rebecca-dalgleish. Read her blog at beccadalgleish.wordpress.com
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