Westmorland Coat of Arms

Westmorland Coat of Arms

Friday 4 November 2011

Enjoy your Life - its later than you think !

Well, its been a pretty sad year what with one thing and another, but probably the worst thing was losing our dear "Jane".
Here was a young girl in her early thirties who was so full of life, with a quick wit and always a helping hand for anyone who needed it, who had only really just started out on life's journey only to be cut down with little warning by the big "C" ..
December last year (2010) saw us all sitting round the dinner table enjoying out horrendously oversized Christmas dinner, laughing and joking about some of the worst Christmas crackers anyone ever bought, which didnt "snap", no "gift!", a very questionable  paper hat made from re-cycled cardboard, and the most unfunny "mottos" ever written; they were so bad we fell about laughing that we had bought such a product .
Who would have believed that just 9 months later we would be laying our "Baby Jane" to rest in Parkside cemetery.
Just  a few weeks later in late January , she took ill with stomach pain and problems keeping down her food.
A call to the Doctor  resulted in a home visit bye a Locum and a diagnosis of "A water infection". Despite her best efforts to keep going, she continued to be ill and visits to her own doctor "confirmed " the previous diagnosis. Changes to her tablets ensued, but she did not improve, and a call to her doctor resulted in an "over the phone" diagnosis, and the addition of laxatives.
Precious time had been lost, when she went to the surgery to be seen by the Nurse Practitioner, who spotted that something more serious was afoot.
A quick referral to RLI, and MRI scan confirmed she had Kidney Cancer, and the bad news  ,-- . it had already started to spread through the Lymphatic system to other parts of her body (If only the correct diagnosis had been made sooner -would it have affected the outcome??).
Within days she was in the Operating Theatre and her Kidney as removed, and she was put onto a  cancer fighting tablet course, but with little effect. her weight lose continued and she was unable to keep food down.
After further spells in the RLI and St Johns Hospice, Jane came home to be with her Mum. (A place where she felt safe and loved). But fighting a losing battle she slowly and peacefully ebbed away till she finally succumbed to the disease in the early hours of the 13th September 2011.

The support and love from her many friends and work colleagues was overwhelming, with over 100 people attending her final farewell at the Chapel in Parkside Cemetery.


R.I.P.
JANE VIOLET CHAPMAN
5.6.1979  -  13.9.2011

A life taken much too soon.