Friends of inspiring Sheffield mum with incurable cancer abseil down university building for St Luke’s Hospice

An inspiring woman with an incurable form of stomach cancer has cheered on her friends this morning (May 11) as they abseiled down a university building to raise money for a Sheffield hospice.

Donna Taylor, a 45-year-old mum of two, was diagnosed with a stomach tumour in November last year.

Despite the news of it being incurable, undergoing “gruelling” chemotherapy, and losing her friend Sophie to cancer last year, Donna has set up Dee’s Tummy Cancer Charity and kept her spirits high.

She said: “The diagnosis was devastating and shocking, and so out of the blue. The chemotherapy is pretty gruelling, and my life has changed beyond comprehension.

“I could sit in my house and cry - and that’s going to do no one any good - or, I can face it and think, ‘how can we raise awareness?’”

At 10am, Donna’s best friend Adele Civic, aged 45, her daughter Maddison Civic, aged 20, and their friend Tracy Fairfax, aged 50, took on an abseil from Sheffield Hallam’s Owen Building, alongside other people committed to raising funds.

The £4,200 raised via GoFundMe so far will go to St Luke’s Hospice, which has provided Donna with alternative treatments and therapies to help manage her symptoms and side effects

Donna, of Parson Cross, said: “I don't think I would have got through these past six months without St Luke's.

“It's all about bringing people together, because people want to help. I've got food parcels dropped off and my fridge is always full, people want to help.”

Dee’s Tummy Cancer Charity, partnered with Weston Park Cancer Charity and Cavendish Cancer Care, has raised £16,500 since the start of this year.

She added: “It's a team effort to support our cancer patients, and this kind of fundraising is fundamental to let them continue being the angels that they are. With austerity and the pressures from the government, the funding is cut all the time.”

Now, Donna has taken early retirement from her career as a head of children’s services, in order to spend more time with her children, Tia, aged 21, and Rio, aged 16, and focus on her charity.

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She added: “The chemo is doing what we want it to do - shrinking the tumour, and it has slowed the growth of it - but it's just about living with this cancer now.

“It’s about spending time with my kids, and the chemo is giving me the quality of life to be able to do that.”

You can donate to the abseil for St Luke’s GoFundMePage here, and find more details about Dee’s Tummy Cancer charity’s events including Donna’s Disco here.