My mum was a 64 yr old woman, never smoked or drank and led a fit and healthy life, she was hiking at Easter this year, but within a few weeks she started with severe indigestion, sickness and sleeping problems, and was prescribed ant -acids by her GP, it was only when she became jaundiced that the Dr sent her into a NHS hospital for tests. At first we were told it was gall stones and one of them had moved into the bile duct causing a blockage, but not to worry, it could easily be removed and she would be fine.
 
My father had her moved to a private hospital, it was then they became concerned with the ultra sound scan results taken by the previous hospital, and they decided to carry out an MRI scan and CT scan only to find a tumor in the bile duct, her liver was spotted and we were told there was nothing more they could do.
 
For the next 6 weeks I watched my mother die but she remained positive throughout the whole time, the cancer spread to her stomach and colon with such speed she was unable to eat and was violently sick most of the time. She lost so much weight and became weak.
 
On 16th June at 12.25 am my mum passed away, dad was with her.  It has completely shattered our family, Cholangiocarcinoma is a cruel cancer, the consultant thought it had probably been there for the past 3 years undetected, it was only because it got to the point where the duct became blocked that her symptoms appeared, by that time it was too late.  My mum was one of the kindest most caring ladies I have ever had the privilege to know and I’m very proud to call her my mum. She leaves a husband of 41 years, two daughters, and 4 grandchildren. She will be missed but never forgotten.

Hopefully the more awareness we create about Cholangiocarcinoma, the more funding will be granted to study possible genetic or environmental causes, the earlier the detection then the earlier the cure.