Mum's 'torment' as lockdown stops sick daughter reunion

A mother whose daughter has incurable cancer and was given just days to live at Christmas has said it is "sheer torment" not being able to meet up.

Marion Thomas, from Cleethorpes, last saw her daughter Michelle Teale, in December, when they were told the cancer had spread.

Despite her prognosis, Mrs Teale, 58, from Leicester, has not been able to see her mother again due to lockdown.

Mrs Thomas, 85, said: "I hope it goes off shortly and I can get to see her".

The mother and daughter, who live about 90 miles (145km) apart, were separated for 22 weeks last year as a result of the extended lockdown in Leicester.

They were reunited in August but then came the news in December that Mrs Teale's secondary breast cancer had spread to her liver and lungs.

"I was rushed into hospital and sent home on 20 December and they gave me around three days to live," she said.

"It was so bad, I planned my own funeral."

But Mrs Teale, who was first diagnosed in April 2019, has defied doctors' expectations and said although she was never going to get any better, she was "heading in the right direction".

She said without the support of her husband, Melvyn, and her mother she would not have been able to keep so positive.

"It's always been Melvyn and my mum - the three musketeers - and without each other we would have faded by the wayside," she said.

"Every day is a challenge and if I get through each day, that's another day ticked off my list."

Mrs Thomas, a breast cancer survivor herself, said the main thing was "Michelle was still here."

She added: "I just thank the lord she's here and I hope the lockdown goes off shortly and I can get to see her again."

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