AN ANGLESEY woman battling terminal cancer has vowed not to let illness dampen her spirits after raising £8,000 for worthy causes in North Wales.
Christine Jones, 51, has helped to raise £8,000 since being diagnosed with lung cancer eighteen months ago, and is determined to fight her condition for as long as possible.
Speaking to the Chronicle after handing £315 to both Llanfair PG health centre and Coed Y Glyn surgery in Llangefni, she said: “There’s always hope – we’re all going to die sometime and we’re all in the same boat.
“I want to show that you can live with it – you have to.”
Christine (pictured with her two-year-old grandson Jack), of Pentraeth, explained that keeping busy helps her cope, especially when spending time with Jack.
She added: “I take him for swimming lessons, to the zoo – I try to do something with him every day and it keeps me going, doing everything that a gran should do with her grandson.”
Doctors at Ysbyty Gwynedd told Christine that she had cancer on September 7, 2008, just after she returned home from a family holiday.
“I felt fine on holiday, but I started to feel unwell as I came out of the airport and I didn’t get better over the next couple of days,” she said. “So I went to casualty and that’s when they told me.”
Christine has received chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments at Ysbyty Gwynedd and Glan Clwyd, and, after completing her final course last December, has been determined to live life to the full.
Christine has arranged regular charity nights at the Bull in Pentraeth and made donations to both hospitals as well as MacMillan Cancer Relief, Hospice at Home and Hafan Menai Hospice, and her friend Brenda Evans has arranged a sponsored walk up Snowdon for Cancer Research UK in July.
“You have your good days and your bad days, but you have to make the most out of each day,” she said.
“Living a normal life is terribly important to me – I’ve told the doctors they’ll have to keep me alive for another eight years so that I can go for a ride in a bus for free!”
To take part in the sponsored walk, call 01248 852201.