Ashleigh Ellerton was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in 2020 after feeling a pain in her breast – but a GP had ‘dismissed her symptoms’ because of her young age
A mum has been given just three months to live after being ‘dismissed’ as “too young” for breast cancer. Ashleigh Ellerton was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer five years ago when she experienced pain in her right breast.
Tragically, last September, the 29-year-old mum of four was dealt a further blow. She was told she had developed leptomeningeal disease, a rare and untreatable complication where cancer cells invade the brain and spinal cord tissue.
Now the former carer from from Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, spends her days cherishing every moment with her husband Simon, 37, and their children, all aged between five and 11. Ashleigh said: “They are the reason I fought so hard and for so long – there is nothing in the world I do that isn’t for them. I do believe they are the reason I am still here.
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“I am just trying to make sure I have everything in order for the children as they get older. I am making memory boxes, writing cards so they have birthday cards with my writing. It is about making sure I have prepared the kids for life without me.”
When Ashleigh discovered a lump in December 2019, she said she faced resistance from her GP who assured her that she couldn’t have cancer due to her family’s lack of history with the disease. She remarked: “I am quite stubborn, so refused to leave until they’d sent me to the breast clinic.”
Ashleigh was plunged into a medical whirlwind when, after undergoing a mammogram, multiple ultrasounds, and a CT scan, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2020, reports Bristol Live. She faced the harrowing prospect of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a mastectomy.
She said: “The words came out of his mouth, but it was sort of like they didn’t. The only thing I could think of was that we had just booked a family holiday.
“It was sort of like unplanning things in my head rather than listening to what the doctor was saying. And then when we left the room, it sunk in. It was almost like it wasn’t happening to me.
“It was happening to someone else and I was just watching it.” Despite the grim diagnosis, Ashleigh went through six rounds of chemotherapy, 15 bouts of radiotherapy and had a mastectomy. By December 2020, she had an all-clear and went on to marry Simon the following year.
Yet, Ashleigh confessed her lingering fears: “I was convinced that the cancer was not finished with me. I told my nurses who had come to my wedding that my cancer was going to come back in my liver.”
Her daunting journey took another turn in 2022 as severe pain led to the removal of her gallbladder and the dread discovery of secondary breast cancer in her liver – now metastatic and with a rough prognosis of three years to battle. She said: “It was a shock but I’d read stories and I’d seen people live a lot longer. So I didn’t think I would die in three years – there is no chance.”
Ashleigh’s mum, Steph Allsopp, 44, a full-time carer, took the initiative to set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the family to make as many memories together as they could. The generosity of strangers has been overwhelming, with donations exceeding £11,700, enabling Ashleigh to take her children on dream trips to Harry Potter World, Disneyland, London and the Polar Express.
Last September, Ashleigh began experiencing severe headaches and mood swings. After undergoing an MRI scan, she was diagnosed with leptomeningeal disease a few days later and given the heartbreaking news that she had just three months left to live.
Recalling the devastating moment, Ashleigh shared: “That shock factor was when he said that I had to get my affairs in order and I had three months to live. I then had to go home to tell my children. I remember them screaming. My five-year-old didn’t understand what was going on, but I remember him crying and saying he wasn’t going to see me.”
Ashleigh had always dreamed of taking her children to Disneyland and Scotland when they were a bit older. She said: “I didn’t have the privilege of waiting until then to enjoy it with them.
“My biggest goal was to make it to Christmas. It is our favourite time of year, and there was absolutely no way I would pass away before Christmas.
“I didn’t want them to have that over their heads for the rest of their lives. My daughter did ask if Santa could take away my cancer, which I think left poor Santa in a bit of shock.”
Now, Ashleigh is devoted to creating everlasting memory boxes for her children – they will include birthday cards, prom mementos, heartfelt letters and beloved trinkets to remind them of her. She has also thought about their future, adding gifts for their eventual offspring.
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Ashleigh shared: “I would want them to remember I was present and that I fought as hard as I could.” Determined to make a difference even in the face of her own struggle, Ashleigh has contributed her tissue biopsies to medical research with the hope that it might pave the way for improved treatments for others.
“I’m just hoping that one day in the future, the things I have done will stop this from happening to another family,” she concluded.
Click here to donate to the Ellerton family on their GoFundMe page
