A DETERMINED cancer survivor has raised almost £5,000 to fight the disease since being diagnosed last year.
Now the mum from Balsall Common is set to hold a coffee morning in honour of a friend who lost his brave battle earlier this year.
Amy Fox had just returned from holiday in Portugal to celebrate her 31st birthday last year when she discovered a lump on her breast.
With a family history of breast cancer with her aunt surviving the disease and her grandma losing her battle, Amy was quickly diagnosed with stage two breast cancer at University Hospital in Coventry.
“All I kept thinking was my little girl is 18 months old, I can’t leave her, my husband and my family,” Amy said.
“We were devastated but I quickly found myself in a fight mode.”
Three days later, Amy found herself at the starting line of the Race for Life with her sister Emily, which they had signed up for before the diagnosis.
The duo raised £770 for Cancer Research UK and Amy said this gave her the boost she needed to keep fighting.
Determined not to let the disease beat her, she started to organise events when she was feeling well between chemotherapy treatment, as well as spending time with her daughter.
A side-effect of her treatment was that Amy’s hair began to fall out and she decided to shave her hair and donate it to The Little Princess Trust in the hope her hair would help a child.
Amy said: “The chemo symptoms would last seven days every time so then I was left with 14 days of normality.
“In those 14 days each cycle I was busy with my daughter and normal day-to-day activities with my family but my mind was always thinking about what could happen next.
“That’s when I decided to organise a Macmillan coffee morning and it soon snowballed into this big community event.”
Amy raised a whopping £3,400 at the coffee morning.
She added: “I was so overwhelmed by the level of support and the amount of people that had actually come.
“It kept me occupied through my treatment so I wasn’t thinking about what was actually going on.
“I feel like raising money for charities is my way of giving something back for all the treatment and support I’ve received.”
After recovering from surgery earlier this year where surgeons found no traces of cancer, Amy was again lining up ready to take on the Race for Life, this time with her sister Verity. They raised a further £780.
Amy’s next project takes place on September 29 when she will be holding a Macmillan Coffee Morning in honour of Geoff Wain – the dad of Amy’s friend Lindsey.
There will be plenty on offer at Balsall Common Village Hall from 9.30am until 1pm including a guess the name of the giant teddy, a raffle and tombola and lots of cake.
So far raffle prizes include a Kindle from epyx Ltd, a voucher from Two Ten Hair and Beauty, tickets for Coventry City Football club, Touchwood vouchers and a Jump In entry voucher.
To buy a raffle tickets or donate a raffle prize or for more information contact [email protected]
