I was diagnosed with a brain tumour the size of a golf ball and given just one year to live

Suzanne, a wife and mum-of-two from Aberdeen, had just celebrated her 36th birthday in the summer of 2014. Her family were looking forward to the next few months, which were filled with exciting plans. But then she started having headaches that no amount of paracetamol would relieve.

Suzanne and her daughter smile together for a picture at a family celebration — Curestarter Suzanne

As I sat in the doctors waiting room, I knew something wasn’t right but hoped so hard I was wrong. The doctor sent me straight for a scan. Unfortunately, I was right.

Suddenly all of the normal things we had planned seemed so out of reach. Our children, Max and Lauren, were just seven and four. Lauren was starting school and Owen and I had been looking forward to taking those ‘first day’ photographs.

Instead, we were having to prepare ourselves and the children for what lay ahead. My only hope was that someone could find a treatment that could give me more time. And incredibly, they did.

Thanks to cancer research, like the projects funded by Worldwide Cancer Research, and the kindness of people like you, I defied the odds and I'm still here today.

But sadly it isn’t all over for me, as part of my tumour could not be removed. Like many people with cancer, I live every day knowing it could be my last – that’s why lifesaving cancer research must continue.

Suzanne and her family smile together for a selfie

I try to stay positive and the more years go by, the more hopeful I am that new treatments and cures will be found.

But those breakthroughs can’t happen without funding as much new cancer research as possible.

As a charity entirely reliant on donations from kind supporters like you, Worldwide Cancer Research urgently needs your help to start new cures around the world.

By becoming a Curestarter, you can help us fund more lifesaving research around the world that will give hope to families like Suzanne's. Join our united effort to reach a day when no life is cut short by cancer.